


All In

by Shinigamibutter



Series: Moon [2]
Category: Monsta X (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Gangsters, Alternate Universe - Vampire, Alternate Universe - Werewolf, Alternative Vampire Lore, Alternative Werewolf Lore, Dark, Group Sex, Harem style, Heavily referenced character death, M/M, Original Character(s), Other, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, POV hopping, Polygamy, Ritual Public Sex, Sequel, Slow Build, To Be Edited, imprtinting, m/m/m/m/m/m/m, mentions of ritualistic cannibalism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-19
Updated: 2018-12-06
Packaged: 2019-06-13 22:40:52
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 12
Words: 25,653
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15374970
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shinigamibutter/pseuds/Shinigamibutter
Summary: Now that Changkyun knows without a doubt he's the reincarnation of the moon goddess he's not sure what to do with the information. Or if he'll follow the path that's opened up before him.Sequel to The X Clan





	1. First Bite

**Author's Note:**

> If you haven't read The X Clan this is only going to confuse you. Because this starts one week after it ended. That being said you do need to read it to understand this one. Unless you're really, really good at reading backstory where the bare minimum is given.
> 
> Welcome back to my returning readers. I warn you now this chapter is a set up chapter, shocking I know, but we've got to set up where we're at now. Things are quite different in focus here. But there should be more romance...eventually. I'm aiming at 6 chapters...because there's six main points...but we all know how that turned out for the 5 main points in the X Clan...but let's not jinx me!!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Miss me?

Now that they’d finally stopped running for a moment the loss of Gunhee hit them hard, himself included. In retrospect Changkyun knew he hadn't known the other very long, less than two weeks total but it had been long enough. And if his own pain weren't enough there was that of his mates that he felt coursing through him as if it were his own anyway. And it had wrecked them, especially Jooheon who had been close to the other wolf long before they’d joined the company. 

Still even a full week later it wasn’t something they were allowed to dwell on. Being on the run was hard enough without trying to do so and juggle emotional baggage. It wasn’t stopping them, Changkyun knew, could feel. And it was definitely different being able to feel the emotions of the other six, but it felt somehow familiar. As he rightfully knew now that it should be. 

Knowing and feeling were extremely different creatures though. Knowing he had once been the moon goddess didn’t reconcile his feelings with Ajax, his parents, Nu’bility, the vampires, his mates, Gunhee’s death, or even himself. If anything it made everything harder to bear. Though he didn’t want the others to know that either, instead locking it away as they healed slowly from the wounds that had piled up on them both emotionally and physically as they travelled.

Tonight it was his mate’s luxury to heal, to be without his emotions piling on top of their own. Holding back how he felt wasn’t new to him in this life, it was something he’d long mastered with Ajax when his descent into vampirism started. Though it was difficult, and taxing to hold them back from the others inside his own mind. But with a single memory of the look on Jooheon’s face, covered in blood and tears, stricken with grief as he held Gunhee’s head it was enough to get the job done. Instead he forced himself to send warmth, love, and appreciation. 

Feelings he regretted not sending in his lifetime as the moon. But through the week of traveling he’d done his best to put those feelings behind him. Understanding that was then and this was now. That he was no longer the cruel moon goddess. Though he still couldn’t quite look at his mates and not see who they had once been, who he had once been. Not for a lack of wanting to. He missed them more than he could quite express, yet missing them didn’t fix the problem either. 

The problem being he still hadn't resolved his feelings towards anything. At least he suspected that was the reason he still couldn't quite face them. Though Ajax insisted on him rooming alone until he figured it all out. Jun had ‘offered’ to stay with him while Yoon stayed with Ajax, the group not quite trusting him yet. Not that Changkyun could blame them there, Ajax as the others knew him was a monster. Ajax as Changkyun knew him was something else, still twisted and wrong, but there had been a time for him where the elder wolf hadn't been a monster.

Yet they all acknowledged he was right about this, about going north. Leaving behind the company who had wronged them and who they'd wronged in return. But he wasn't going to compare who had wronged who more. The alpha certainly wouldn't care to hear any of it anyway, if his men ever caught them. Though thankfully Ajax had seen to tying the alpha’s hands as much as possible to prevent him from moving. Legally there was nothing the alpha could do, and being under such scrutiny due to court proceedings he was further limited. 

Not that it stopped him. On their way north they'd run into no less than four squads that had been sent after them. The most they'd been able to do was hinder their travel for a few hours. The gap between Jun, Yoon, and the rest of the pack was apparent. And Changkyun was certain that their loss was felt deepest, and why the beta had tried so hard to be sure. Knowing their loyalty wasn't something that could be bought meant they were always aware of what would happen if they left. 

Still that pack had never mattered to him. The people at the company had been nice, forgettable like the people at every other company he'd been with. The only reason he'd joined them was the pull he'd felt towards his mates. The pull he still felt towards them now, even when they were out and he was here, holed up in their hotel. He'd been tasked with trying to remember where the moon temple was. As Ajax had neglected to tell him that his side didn't know or have any real clues either.

Though Changkyun felt that he shouldn’t be surprised by that, the rumors that the vampires were seeking the temple still persisted. Meaning it was unlikely that it had been found at all. Though Ajax had told them, as they left the city of Izumo, that he believed the location was buried in Changkyun’s memories as the moon goddess. That the vampires he worked with were certain of it too. Legends of their own telling of how the moon goddess would be drawn back to the power the temple still held. 

Changkyun knew that none of them had bought it, yet none of them had voiced their opinion on the matter that night. Knowing that if they didn't take Ajax’s help they wouldn't have escaped the city. Not with the condition Jun was in, the emotional state of the others, and his own condition on top of it. Though even then, with his own emotions cut off Changkyun had been able feel his mate’s doubts about Ajax. A feeling of distrust in him and his motives.

Yet he’d felt no doubts aimed at himself despite how closed off he’d made his feelings the further they fled. Memories and emotions running wild at the information that he’d been given to soak in. All while still feeling what the others felt, their loss, their pain, and their worry for him. Still he controlled his own emotions as best he could to prevent overwhelming the others with his own feelings. Not wanting to pile them on top of the others mixed emotions with how conflicted they were. Still unsure on how to feel about his past, about his mates now knowing for sure why he had six. Why it was them.

He still wasn’t sure, and even tonight he was still actively controlling his emotions as he settled into a nest of his mate’s blankets. Having pulled them from their hotel room across from his and Jun’s. They were still a bit bloody, the once bright red now a rust from the age of a day. Hyunwoo’s injury had already all but healed, now just a scab from where he’d been stabbed. But when they’d arrived Hoseok had forced him to sit on the bed while he’d reopened the wound to dig out the tip of the blade which had broken off. The eldest of his mate’s had come out better than his opponent had and it had allowed them safe passage over the border. 

A border that was now at least ten hours and a few cities behind them as they made their way slowly to where Ajax said his main pack resided. It was still hard trusting him, knowing that before Ajax had lied to him more than once. But the air had been mostly cleared a week ago in a small dingy motel room where he’d saved them. That didn’t make things easier to swallow, not when he was being kept from his own mates in the process. Though a large part of that decision had been his own. Otherwise there was nothing that could keep him from them now. But he needed time, they all did.

For he didn’t want the full weight of his memories, his tangled up feelings, to fall on his mates, not now, not yet. Instead he wanted them to be able to properly deal with the loss they’d experienced. Though it hurt. It hurt to not see them, to not be there for them the same way he hadn’t been before. But it hurt just as much to know that he’d been that cruel, even knowing that he’d changed, that they’d forgiven him for a past he'd only just come to know.

Their forgiveness didn’t carry quite the same feeling as the forgiveness he’d begrudgingly thrown Ajax. As he knew they hadn’t felt how cruel he as a goddess he had been to them. Or maybe they had, he couldn’t be sure as he only had her memories not theirs. He could access them of course, if he so chose but he didn’t want to know. He hadn’t wanted to know the truth at all. Because it hurt, it still hurt him along with the other memories that had surfaced as they traveled. None more cruel to him than the faces of his mates and daughters when they’d been paired off. 

A scene that he’d awoken from in nightmares more than once in the week they’d been running from motel to motel through the alpha’s terrority. Though they weren’t the only faces that haunted him, the faces of his pack, of Nu’bility, came back to him as well. The ones he felt like he’d failed. Jun was with him then shaking him awake or holding him when he woke screaming. A twisted feeling in his gut as he felt the warm comfort of his mates from another room. Missing them more then than he could put words to.

It had been her smooth voice and caring expressions that saved him from himself on those nights and mornings. Her logical approach appreciated and the support welcomed. Though he still couldn't quite forgive himself. No matter how often she reminded him that it wasn't his fault. Assuring him that things were meant to be this way in the gentlest way possible. Reminding him they wouldn’t have met if it weren’t for the events playing out like they had. 

The condolences didn't change the guilt that resided within him. Feelings of what if, and questions that couldn't be answered about what might have been. How things might have been different if he'd been able to save Nu’bility, if he hadn't been captured by vampires, if he'd not killed the beta. They were questions Jun couldn't answer. They were questions he couldn’t answer either. And what were left were feelings that would hopefully fade with time.

Though he knew until then the thoughts would continue to haunt him as they did now. The thoughts weighing heavily on him as he sat in motel bed, his only comfort the scent of his mates surrounding him. He wanted to see them, but he had been tasked with trying to remember where to find the moon temple. And today, like every other day since they’d started running he’d try to remember. For the sake of fixing what he’d done before, or maybe just for easing his own guilt.

He pushed the thoughts and questions aside and took a deep breath, inhaling the scent of his mates. Allowing himself to reset the clock to before, locking away the present, locking away the faces he’d failed to save. Recalling instead faded, broken pieces of what he remembered from his time as the moon. Focusing on the places from which he'd drawn power as a goddess. The temples that were dedicated to him and the ‘benevolence’ that the moon had been known for. The history of which was still passed down in the legends instead of the truth of her selfishness. 

The first time he'd done this he hadn't been able to pinpoint on the temples, instead being swept away by a tide of memories. Drawn to memories of the moon's sister the sun, the love they shared for each other strong. Their sibling bond a source of power to the moon. The memories were sweet but also painful. Jun had returned from her scouting duties to find him crying that time. And since then he'd been drawn to several different memories, each of them painful in how he missed the people held within. The majority immortals who would no longer accept him as the moon in this form. 

He wasn't sure if this too was part of Ajax’s plan to make him want to find the temple more. But even if it wasn't each memory awoke the feeling of wanting to return there, to find a connection with what he lost. And to forge even stronger bonds with his mates. The memories he had of them as the moon painful, and her feelings in them twisted by a longing for a lost lover. Even though that love was one who had betrayed her. Hecate, was just another soul Ajax wanted to save. Though Changkyun couldn’t say he was sure how he felt on the matter.

Often he found himself losing focus when she was involved in the any of his memories. A guilt quite different from what the moon felt towards his mates surfacing. In the past the moon goddess had not cared about their mate’s jealousy, he did now. The love he still felt somewhere in him for the witch twisting his heart in pain. For even in the end when the moon goddess came to love, or at least understand her mates she’d still longed to see the human she’d cursed. For him, she was an existence that he’d rather move on from. 

A betrayal that was on level to how he made his own mates feel as the moon. A feeling he’d never allow them to feel again as he thought of how much he wanted to see them now. Their scents only surrounding him not quite enough for him now that they’d consummated their union. He wanted them, and he was willing to go through the hell of his memories to keep them with him. And tonight he was determined to work past any bumps in his memories. More determined than before with the faint scent of Hyunwoo’s blood in his nostrils. 

Finding the way into his memories of his past life was easier than before as he sunk into the nest of blankets. His mind focusing on what he knew was his own scent among theirs, a scent like the moon that was cold and intoxicating. It only made his insides squirm. Though now it was because he knew it marked what was his. What would always be his. He followed the scent to his last memories of this place, a land much less forgiving than the south had been. The wilderness here much more pronounced and the cities further apart. 

The scent of the moon lingered in the north, he’d smelled it faintly when they’d first approached the border. His mates as well had commented on it, while the others had given them a side-eyed look. Now that they were over it he could smell it everywhere, an echo of his own scent that seemed to have seeped into the very earth. A feeling of being drawn somewhere by it. The same feeling he chased in his memories when he closed his eyes, another deep breath. A draw of power, he opened his eyes to look at the map Ajax had given him.

Before he knew what he was doing or what feeling had overtaken him he was making a line. Then another, then yet another line until he’d drawn seven small x’s on the map. Each of them over a forest in the shape of a star, more lines connecting them above a location before he sat back to stare at his work. He knew which temple this was. It was the last temple he’d seen all of his mates together in. There wasn’t much power left there that he could feel, but he could feel it. Seeping through his body and into the link he shared with his mates. 

There was a text waiting for him before he was able to send one out when he reached for his phone. It was Ajax, asking if he’d found anything and assuring him his mates were fine. Changkyun appreciated it even though he could feel it for himself. Could text or call them himself. He didn’t, at least not often. As his mates were busy securing their passage to the next city or throwing off their pursuers. Thankfully there weren’t likely to be many now that they’d crossed the border. As their previous company didn’t have a foothold in the north anymore without the contract. 

Still as a whole it was hard for his mates to make connections having only recently, and violently, left their pack and its company. Rumors spreading about them long before their arrival. Making their connection with Ajax their lifeline, as the north thought highly of him. Though Changkyun doubted those connections were anyone reputable or reliable, but they had so far secured them passage. Despite an exact location of where they headed having not been shared with them

Changkyun had his own ideas of where Ajax had his pack hiding out based on the map he’d been given. After all, there were only so many places a vampire could, or would, reside. Though he still held out hope that Ajax was not taking them to meet his vampire cohorts first. However, he had a sneaking suspicion they resided with the rest of the older wolf’s pack. Or at least nearby. But it didn’t matter now as of a few seconds ago their destination had changed. 

His hands shook as he typed out a text, it was only to his mates. He didn’t send it, thinking about how he no longer wanted to be bound by a pack or it’s laws. How instead he only wanted his mates and those he deemed worthy to be with him. That thought sent an echo of familiarity down his spine, a line of thought from his past. It had him faltering on the message, his finger hovering over the send button. Rethinking how selfish he truly might be to put his mates above the others he’d cursed in pursuit of love before. He still didn’t send it. 

It would have been a simple but clear message of his feelings and what he found, the map shoved aside for much later. Ajax would hear about it after he showed his mates and they decided what they would do. If they would deviate from the plan that Ajax was so painstakingly leading them through thus far. Somehow only using a trail of breadcrumb hints as their guide. But tonight wasn’t about the grand scheme, the plan, or about him. So he wrapped himself up further in his mate’s blankets inhaling their scents waiting for them. Now that they’d stopped running they needed to talk, without him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thoughts appreciated at all turns, be it the writing, the characters, or questions. This style might differ from the one previously used because I started it like over a year ago. But I'll do my best! If you spot a consistency issue please tell me!!!


	2. Second Bite

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My life is a mess right now, guess whose going to be house shopping? And I'm an aunt, got a kitten, and my bestie and I keep getting into rows. So don't expect regular updates. I can't promise them right now. Though I'll try my best. 
> 
> Also please appreciate my efforts in a summary that has no real spoilers for this or the X Clan. DO you know how hard that was????

Kihyun wasn’t taken aback by their beds being bare when they entered the motel room after a long day of chasing leads. This wasn’t the first time that Changkyun had nabbed the blankets straight from their beds. But he didn’t begrudge the smile that lit up Hoseok’s face when he saw, nor did he frown at the small bit of light that entered Jooheon’s eyes at the sight. It had been a hard week for them, an even harder two weeks. And the emotional roller coaster of it was finally slowing down now that they’d passed the border to the north.

It didn’t mean that their guard could be lowered, but today had been a good day in that regard. There hadn’t been any signs of the alpha’s men following them and the information they’d gathered was useful. They'd found a few leads on ins with clients they’d only ever dreamed of working with before. But better yet they were able to find an in that would give them access to their personal bank accounts. A hard feat considering how tied the bank's hands were legally, as the alpha had reported them all dead.

The reports weren’t hard to disprove, but Kihyun knew they weren’t quite ready to go public with their location just yet. Jooheon certainly wasn’t ready, Kihyun knew he might never be ready. The loss of Gunhee weighed on him, even more now that they'd just jumped through all the corporate hoops the ravenette usually helped them with. It weighed on all of them and pressed against them like an unspoken and ignored truth. The feelings ever present but always just shy of acknowledgement.

In honesty he knew, they all knew, they needed to talk about the losses they'd suffered. Not just Gunhee, but Hyungdong, the beta, and the careers they'd spent their lives building. Knowing what need to be done didn't make it any easier to do though, even with the timing being right. Timing didn’t provide words. Words that caught in the back of his throat from even just looking at Jooheon once they returned to the room. His defenses down and the emotions emanating from him palpable.

They could all feel it, grief. Some of it was their own, mixed in and almost indistinguishable between them as to who felt it more. Kihyun could feel the weight of their emotions pressing against him with every breath he took. The only positive emotion to be felt coming from their mate, who was sending them love and understanding through the link they shared. Though Kihyun knew Changkyun was a different problem altogether. Memories of a past that would have been better left forgotten had surfaced for them all as they traveled. 

Recollections of the moon goddess had been abundant, especially for Kihyun as he’d spent the most time with her. The memories still hurt, knowing how little she’d cared at the beginning still hurt. He could recall with clarity the moment she’d announced how she’d choose her husband. The faces of their daughters and those of his friends as they were paired off. A deep wound, one that he knew Changkyun was coming to terms with as well. Even without the link he could see it, feel it. A bond that carried over.

It would have been easier to start the much needed discussion there, with the past, with the moon. But there was no need for a discussion of how the moon goddess had been or what had happened back then. Not now. Not without their mate. And that discussion could only happen when Changkyun had truly come to terms with who he had been. Who, as Ajax kept saying, he’d be again. Whatever that meant Kihyun wasn’t sure but it had no bearing on the moment. Their mate’s feelings were not the problem, but their own.

As the feelings from Changkyun were surer and stronger than the moon’s had ever been, even towards the love they’d known she still harbored for Hecate. Changkyun’s, were feelings that plusated along the connection they shared every chance they were given. A reminder that their mate had chosen, and without a doubt he’d chosen all of them. A thought that only helped to soothe the memories Kihyun had of being forced to bear the other’s emotions and concerns. Feelings the moon goddess hadn’t felt until it was too late. 

He didn’t want it to be too late for Jooheon, he didn’t want the redhead to gloss over the loss and suffer for it later. So he steeled himself, his thoughts centering on the task at hand even as the others settled into the room. Dinner wasn’t for a few hours at least and with today’s progress they'd likely go out to celebrate. Meaning there wasn’t time to waste. All eyes were on him by the time he sat on the bed facing the room from the right side of the headboard. They knew, Changkyun knew, what he was about to do. “We need to talk.” 

Hoseok swallowed at Kihyun’s word choice, it was accurate, but it wasn’t delicate. The words left a heavy feeling in the air, one he supposed had really been there all along. Kihyun’s words just drew attention to it. Though there was no question to what he wanted to talk about, his thoughts pulling them all along to the subject matter. A matter that had been left for too long, even if it was by necessity. The losses they’d suffered were not small and the gains they had acquired were. With the exception of their mate.

“Kihyun’s right.” Hoseok broke the silence that hung for a heartbeat too long, shifting in the chair he’d sat in. The desk behind him was a tiny one, it was littered with business papers and travel plans. Most of which Gunhee would have understood best, the loss of his skills stark even in the smallest of their decisions. “We can’t keep going like this.” The sentiment was met with more nods, agreement but no one spoke to break the silence that followed each sentence.

He knew the silence was a wall of pain that stood before them, waiting for them to delve in and immerse themselves in it. A task that was easier said than done, but this wasn’t the first emotional hurdle he’d had to overcome. Hoseok refused to allow his thoughts to dwell on the aftermath of the beta’s actions before, her violence against him. He broke the silence now in the much the same way as he had then. The only difference in that back then it had been facing his own feelings, now it was all of theirs. “We have to face that Gunhee is gone and it hurts.” 

Hyungwon felt the pain in those words, the hollowness in Hoseok’s voice was just as audible as the emotion. It felt like stab in the heart, one that had Jooheon taking a deep intake of breath. The subtlety of the redhead’s emotions not lost to Hyungwon as the words filled the room and faded away into more silence. But this time the silence didn’t last as those words took away the feeling of restraint that had been following them, the feeling that it wasn’t okay to talk about it. Lifting the oppression they’d placed upon themselves. “I miss him.” 

The words had slipped out far easier than Hyungwon had been planning on letting them. An admission that echoed around the room. And like the first tear that slid loose it was followed by another, until the room was filling up the with the awful truth and more tears. And as one they simultaneously moved onto the queen sized beds, which they’d pushed together the moment they’d arrived in order to sleep near each other. The compulsion to do so irresistible since they’d consummated their bond. 

The closeness helped, Hyungwon could feel the difference in the emotions around him, stabilizing into one. So much so it was almost impossible to tell who was feeling what. Save Changkyun who as before when Hyungdong was price a traitor, stood in the center a pillar of positivity. A benefit he held by not feeling the loss at the same depth. Though he could feel how their emotions affected their mate, called to him, and sought out his comfort. A comfort they sought from each other now, telling stories about the one they missed most. 

“I remember when I first met Gunhee.” Jooheon knew his voice was soft, softer than anyone outside the room had ever heard it. Filled to the brim with emotions that he’d never wanted anyone to see before, emotions that were no longer his to bear the burden of alone. Which was comforting all on it’s own, made even more so by Minhyuk who was draped over his side, nuzzling into his neck. “I had thought he was a gangster, he thought I was too.” 

Jooheon knew his smile was watery as he went on to talk about how both of them had been mistaken, but grew up to be just that anyway. Bleeding into the story of their turning, it had happened on the same night, both of them unable to resist the call of the full moon. The story made him feel a little better, a little less heavy as he admitted to his own feelings. And allowing his tears to flow. Having been trying to hold them back for far too long already. Even now the memory of Gunhee’s last moments haunted him. He knew they truly haunted all of them.

Along with the memory he couldn’t help the feeling that Gunhee’s death had been preventable, if they hadn’t killed the beta. “No, you’re wrong.” Minhyuk’s voice interrupted Jooheon’s thoughts even though he hadn’t said them aloud. And around him he could feel the bodies shifting from the comfortable stance of storytelling to the stiffness of serious discussion. He didn’t comment instead staring into Minhyuk’s eyes searching for the answer he could know if he wanted to.

Minhyuk swallowed at the intensity in Jooheon’s eyes, the feelings they all felt were reflected back at him as well as the uncertainty. But he knew he wasn’t wrong. “No matter how it feels now, the beta had already decided our fates. Even if Gunhee hadn’t been in your office we would have all died, that’s how she planned it.” He hadn’t expected that knowledge would hurt as well, it did. To know that the company they’d strived so hard for could so easily abandon them hurt. The beta had once been someone they cared about, as a leader of their pack. Now she was nothing.

“We knew,” Minhyuk swallowed around the lump in his throat as he went on, a hollow feeling taking over his stomach. “We always knew we were expendable.” No one spoke after that, the air suddenly as heavy as it started. The truth, was as hard to swallow as he’d known it would be. Unfortunately he knew as well that there were a lot of truths that they’d need to swallow in order to move on. The company’s feelings towards them was just another of many. 

Hyunwoo looked around the stoic faces, their feelings in more turmoil now than they had been in two weeks. Even moreso than when they’d realized what Changkyun was for them. It was interesting how things had changed so drastically so quickly. It had started with them knowing what to do for the company who wanted their skills and turned into them being abandoned for those same skills. With their mate it had started with him unaware and unknowing, now he knew more than he’d ever wanted to. It was almost laughable.

Or it might have been if it weren’t for the losses they’d suffered along the way. The startling feeling of being on their own. It was moments like this that Hyunwoo worried he wasn’t good enough to lead them, had never been good enough to lead them. Hoseok had broken their silence and got them talking about Gunhee, about Hyungdong, about their feelings. Now it was his turn. “We don’t need a pack, we don’t need a company.” His words had drawn the others to him, the power in his voice and his conviction confusing them.

“We’re strong enough to stand on our own.” Hyunwoo continued, his eyes softening and his thoughts circling around their mate, whose thoughts were crystal clear on the matter of a new pack. “We have enough money among the six of us to support a moderate lifestyle and the clients lined up to start new if we want to.” The small smile that he felt forming felt almost out of place in the atmosphere but he let it grow as he spoke. “We still have each other, Jun, Yoon, and our mate. We don’t need a pack.”

The statement was met with nods, each more powerful than the last as their thoughts came together in a more positive light. Hyunwoo could still feel the loss, aching and raw against his own feelings but that was to be expected. Grief was a process, they’d only taken the first step so far but he was confident that they would be able to move past this stage. To heal, to come together as the only pack that Changkyun needed. A thought he didn’t need to say aloud or have the chance to at the knock on their door causing all of them to turn to it. The scent of their mate meeting their noses.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright ya'll I know the style is different, I hope it's improved different. Though please keep in mind the subject is also changed. I'm super scared to be a really good start and awful sequel. SO please be honest with me. Just abuse my fragile feelings, I like it. (even if I act like I don't this ho a masochist)


	3. Third Bite

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So as I've come to realize this probably won't stay with just six chapters. I had high hopes...but dealing with the loss of Gunhee has already taken us this far and it was supposed to be the first of six key points.
> 
> Ya'll it gets emotional up in here.

Changkyun had intended to leave his mates alone to talk, to instead pinpoint an exact location of the temple. But focusing on that had been much harder than he'd anticipated, with the emotions of his mates flowing into him. Somber and resigned to the discussion they were having. He knew it was about Gunhee, about what they’d lost. What they’d ultimately given up for him. The thought it was for him made his stomach turn, but he still pressed the love he felt through the link they shared, passing on that he appreciated his mates and what they’d given him.

Still he’d found himself unable to stay away from them. Which had led him here, outside their door unsure if he should knock or leave. In the end he found his hand raised before he’d truly come to a decision. The words Jun had said to him, as she’d eyed the blankets he’d stolen, came back to him. A simple statement about missing Yoon, that in her own way was her urging him to do this. To stop running. A task he’d committed himself to the moment he’d decided to join the pack and dropped as soon as they’d left it. 

The wood was hard against his knuckles but not as hard as his heart pounding against his rib cage. Though he knew that his mates wouldn’t turn him away, wouldn’t refuse him. The thought left a hollow ache in his heart. Memories reminding him he’d done just that once before. Never again, he promised himself instead of counting the seconds it took them to answer. Behind the door the muffled voices had died down at his knock leaving him in the silence of a deserted hallway.

Yet even though his mate’s voices were now quiet Changkyun could smell them. Their scents called to him, along with their emotions. And even though his mate’s emotions felt more uplifted than a few hours ago, he knew that was only on the surface. He felt at the depth of their souls they were still in a turmoil that only time could heal. He wanted nothing more than to soothe that turmoil with his own hands, and not just the emotional balm of support he’d been sending. The need so strong it had driven him here, waiting for them to let him in. Their blankets tucked into his arms as an excuse. 

When the door opened it was Hyunwoo and his scent that greeted him with a small barely there smile, that did nothing to hide his uncertainty. Changkyun knew then, more than before, that separating himself from his mates hadn’t been his best decision. Even if it had been the only one. The air was awkward, thick with things unsaid but not unfelt. The same way it had felt all week, and Changkyun was tired of it. Tired of holding back from what he knew, what they knew, he wanted. It couldn’t go on like this. “I…” Still the words were hard to find.

“Come in.” Hyunwoo knew his smile was cracking, they’d only just come to a decision and then there was Changkyun. The center of the storm that hard started in their lives, the calm and quiet of it as well as the rage that circled around him and the changes he’d brought. But he knew, they all knew that it wasn’t something that their mate had asked to be for them. No more than he’d asked to be so for himself. Hyunwoo openly stared at the blankets their mate was carrying, the ones he'd taken earlier.

“I’m sorry.” Changkyun’s words were quiet, almost too quiet to hear, but Jooheon heard them over the blankets their mate had been carrying, crumpling from his arms to the floor. Sorrowful eyes lingered on his when their mate stepped inside, simultaneously letting down his defenses. Jooheon broke the eye contact, and he felt their mate do a sweep of the room with his eyes. Before they once more settled on him, another whisper of apology brought his eyes back up with uncertainty. The distance between them seemed to shorten the longer he stared, causing Jooheon to swallow thickly. The others shifted around him as the sentiment was repeated twice more. 

Jooheon knew what the apology was for. It hurt. A ripple of that pain went through all of them, the guilt. But there weren't any words that he could find as their mate stood there just beyond their doorway, blankets piled at his feet. Looking smaller than he'd ever truly looked before in his pajama shorts and an oversized hoodie that covered his hands. 

Hyungwon moved first, he could feel the subtle changes in their mate’s emotions first, he was sure. The shift from I need to see them, to I need to apologize for all the wrongs I’ve done to them. He supposed it made sense, the loss of Gunhee was not the only emotional baggage they’d been running from all week. There was a truth that Ajax had given them that Changkyun had needed time to truly accept. A truth that they’d understood, and forgiven long before their mate. The tears that caught on his shoulder he knew would only be the first of many. 

Getting their mate onto the bed was easy, maneuvering in such a way that they could all be around him was not. Hyungwon wasn’t sure how but they managed, each of them slipping close, as Changkyun cried in their arms. A never ending apology streaming past his lips but nothing else. His arms clinging to them, the inner turmoil of his own emotions just as strong as their own. Hyungwon knew though that the only one who hadn’t forgiven Changkyun, was Changkyun himself. 

“Shh it’s okay Changkyun. We understand.” Minhyuk’s voice was as soft as he could make it, whispering into their mate’s ear, Hoseok was beside him rubbing small circles into their mate’s back. They knew, could feel what was wrong and why Changkyun was crying. But they’d already forgiven him. They understood, truly understood why he’d kept himself apart from them. It was what they’d planned, and failed to do when he arrived. It was only logical to get a grasp of the situation before jumping into it, though he supposed this was different.

As a group they’d planned to turn Changkyun away, a thought that now hurt Minhyuk too much to even give the time of day. That wasn’t what Changkyun had been doing all week. He’d been doing what they were, surviving and coming to terms with what they’d discovered. The loss of Gunhee had been hard, hard on top of losing their pack and their beta who had betrayed their trust. Who thought of them as expendable while they’d done nothing but value them. And what Changkyun was dealing with was his past, that he had once been exactly how their pack was now. 

“You don’t understand.” Changkyun knew he might be being just a tad bit unreasonable, maybe more than a little melodramatic, but he couldn’t stop. He wanted them to know. He wanted them to know everything just as they had opened themselves up for him to know everything. It was painful thinking he could be that vulnerable, that they truly would know everything. Yet, he wanted to be that vulnerable before them, to trust them in a way he’d trusted no one else before. Not even Ajax.

“You can make us understand.” Hyunwoo could feel the memories boiling up in his mind, memories from a very long time ago. Memories of Ajax, vampires, Changkyun’s parents, and even before that. Memories of the goddess, thoughts about them that they’d always suspected but never had confirmed. They cut like knives against their already fresh wounds and dug deeper into the old ones they thought they’d healed. It was a pain that he hadn’t realized he, they needed in order to move forward. 

“The goddess came to love you.” Changkyun’s voice was soft, tear filled and sullen. It made Hoseok’s heart hurt more than the memories stampeding through their minds of moments they’d been part of and those they hadn’t. Each of them the layered with feelings that hurt, that soothed, that pulled forth all the delusions they’d allowed themselves to believe. “It was too late.” The words were still soft, sobbed into Hyungwon’s neck and Hoseok felt his heart falter at the sadness that came through the link with them. He remembered, there was a time when the goddess had called for all of them.

“I’m sorry.” Changkyun knew he wasn’t making much sense in what he said, but he knew what he felt, what he remembered, and what he meant was traveling through the bond they shared. They were all patting him, touching him, caressing him with both their hands and their thoughts. No more was their hollow unknowing forgiveness. They’d start fresh this time. He wanted them to truly understand what he had done to them as the goddess, what he had cursed them all to as werewolves, and that even in the end he couldn’t stop loving them.

“Why don’t we start from the beginning?” Kihyun’s voice was more solid than he thought it would be with how he was feeling. How they were all feeling, sucked into the memories of their previous life. The wounds there felt just as fresh as the wounds they were working to close. The burden of their emotions too much to continue on without addressing. “From when you came down from your temple in the sky and saved us.” The words didn’t quite feel like his own but the others were nodding. 

Changkyun sat up, pulling away from his mates to sit inside the circle they’d made around him. Wiping his eyes with over long sleeves, he nodded. It was one thing for Ajax to tell him, them, what had happened, it was another for them to know it, to feel it, and to remember it. And he knew they did, as well as he did. It was just a matter of accepting that what had brought them together in their first lifetime was not a happy event. That the reason for their meeting had twisted what could have been between them, what he hoped could still be between them now. 

Swallowing thickly Changkyun looked around the expectant faces, he felt the need to touch them, to soothe them. Their pain was his pain and he could feel it throbbing in his chest, their loss was his own. The same loss he’d been feeling all week poured into his very soul the same as his own efforts to accept himself and who he’d been had poured into theirs. What should have been an equal exchange had been an unequal because of him. He knew now that he’d been wrong, his mates were surely strong enough to handle his pain and their own.

“It’s as Ajax said, it started with Hecate.” He had to swallow again around the lump in his throat at bringing up his ex-lover to his soul bound mates. Even if the soul binding was unintentional at the time there was now nothing he would do to change it. “It wasn’t because she, I loved her though, it was because I felt guilty for giving her the power to harm others.” There were tears on his cheeks again that one of them wiped off, he wasn’t sure who as he refused to open his eyes. He’d closed them on their pained expressions at her name. A name he no longer wished to speak. 

“As the goddess, I tried to save as many as I could. The guilt, it still weighs on me.” He admitted it easily enough but it was Gunhee’s face that entered his mind, instinctively he reached for Jooheon’s hand, it was warm in his own. The pain there was raw, but like this, he knew it would heal with time. As he knew from experience time heals all wounds. “I heard your pleas and I knew the poison that had been used was hers, descending from the heavens I tried to extract the poison and turn you into wolves. My favorite creature, to remind me of the wrongs I had done.”

Hoseok pulled Changkyun into his arms, the guilt of the goddess, of their mate was stronger than he’d felt it before. A burden she’d never quite shared with them, locking it away just as Changkyun had locked himself away in punishment for something that wasn’t really his fault. Gunhee had made his own decision, the beta’s plans had long been in place, and their decisions had been their own. Even if it was hard to accept it, to understand that fault never fell evenly they knew. In this as well, the goddess had done what she could. She wasn’t mated to Hecate to know her thoughts or her greed.

He wiped away more of Changkyun’s tears that continued to fall, there were tears in his own eyes and he looked at the others. They hadn’t thought that needed this as much as they did. To free themselves from what they thought was right. To learn what truly was right in their memories, each of them fogged over by bias and time. Hoseok was sure that even Changkyun’s memories were more faded than he believed them to be. Still he didn’t interrupt as their mate went on his voice low and getting hoarse from the crying.

“I couldn’t, as a goddess I didn’t have the power to dispel all of the poison between the six of you so I used my soul. I didn’t think anything of it at the time. It wasn’t until it was done, the poison leaving your bodies and I tried to return to the temple that she understood.” Changkyun pushed away from Hoseok, looking around the room refusing to meet his mate’s eyes. The room around them was the same as the one he and Jun shared, right down to the ugly pictures in front of the beds. The only real difference being his mates had pushed their beds together.

He sighed finally looking into the eyes of each of his mates feeling that the truth might hurt them again. Had hurt the goddess and continued to hurt him. Because it wasn’t all as simple as living this life together or their last life. “She, I understood that I can no longer return to my moon temple, that I, as a goddess was no more.” Changkyun felt the heaviness of his words were lost to his mates, the idea of what he’d given up too large. In much the same way they’d given up their careers for him, he’d unknowingly given up his immortality, his youth, his power for them. 

That wasn’t all of it though, nor was it the part that he worried about. It was what he had done to their souls, all of their souls that weighed on him heaviest. “Not only that but I bound us, you, all of you to me. Which means that no matter how many lifetimes we may be born into again, all six of you will be mated to me and no one else. We shall always imprint, because of the way I cured you, our souls are of the moon, those of werewolves.” The words were met with silence. A silence in which he knew it was sinking in what he’d done as the goddess. 

That unintentionally she’d cursed them to live unfulfilled without her. Unable to find anyone else to fit with them the same, even each other. That she'd cursed their souls to be bound to a future in which they she, now he was the piece they all needed to be complete. A feeling the goddess had dangled before them, a feeling she’d made them live without, because she’d failed to understand until it was too late. 

Jooheon found his voice in the silence, the courage to say what he’d been meaning to all week. What he knew their mate needed to hear. “It wasn’t your fault, it wasn’t the goddess’ fault.” When Changkyun’s eyes met his again he did the only thing he could think of to reassure him, he pulled him closer kissing him softly. Another murmur of his words were said against soft lips, lips that made him feel more comforted than the words had. The truth and depth of their feelings weren’t something that could be measured with a lifetime, though he couldn’t find a way to put that into words. Instead he pressed his feelings through their bond, a bond he never wanted to break. 

The moment seemed to change something in the air, Jooheon could feel the others shifting around them, closing in. Their own feelings echoing his and the bond between them alight with emotions for which there were no words. Fingers trailed along Changkyun’s back skimming along his own as he pressed their mate closer to him with his hands. He wanted this, he wanted to feel that they were all still there. That Gunhee’s decision had been worth it. The gentleness of his kiss was lost the moment Changkyun’s lips moved against his own. Something cracked in the air.

He knew it was their restraint as Changkyun pushed against him, into him, and into the others. Fingers gripping his red hair as their mate opened his mouth with his tongue. It was different than the first time, gentler but still needy as they pressed together. Everything was slow, exploring movements and gentle touches. When Changkyun’s lips left his own they were pulled to Hyungwon beside him and he could see down their mate’s back that Minhyuk had a hand on his ass. Hyunwoo was watching, licking his lips and deciding on the right moment. While Kihyun and Hoseok bore their eyes into the feast that was there’s mate.

Changkyun could feel the desire coursing through him in much the same way it had before. A need to be claimed, to be one with his mates in the way only sex could offer. But he also felt a pull, a closeness to their emotions as they all grieved for what they’d lost. A comfort in knowing they weren’t alone, would never have to be alone. It drove his fingers towards clothed chests, his lips their lips, and his body between them. Until he got what he wanted, all of their clothes a pile on the floor and the only thing between them was heated flesh. In that moment they and the comfort of their bodies were all that existed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This did not turn out like I planned. OH well.
> 
> Also I did make a series, for my own convenience. I'm constantly hopping between the x clan and this for detail checks. And I'm the queen of uncluttered tabs. So this way I don't have to hunt one or the other up.


	4. Fourth Bite

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well I'm back. Did you miss me? More importantly did you miss Jun and Yoon? I have.

Changkyun knew that despite the lighter feeling in his chest not everything had truly been resolved. His feelings and those of his mates might have come together, and they'd accepted each other, but that didn't mean there weren't still issues. The guilt was still there and so was the pain. They weren't feelings that would just go away because he confronted them, he'd known that. Still he'd acted and he felt better for it. Even if his actions had only resolved the issue with his mates and being apart from them, that was enough. At least that's what he told himself when slipped from their room back into the one he shared with Jun. 

Jun was at the desk and turned to look at him with sharp yellow eyes. She’d been sitting there when he left, she didn’t say anything but he could feel her pointed glare as he moved across the room to his bed. There was only one comforter there now, where before there had been seven. The missing six made his chest ache in a way that wasn’t quite painful but he said nothing as he settled into it anyway. He could still smell his mates on him, in him, as he lay there. He knew that Jun could smell them too, if not a bit differently than he could. 

“You made up?” The words were louder than she’d intended them to be, but without them the air was just too awkward. And not because she was upset that Changkyun had been with his mates but because of where they were, what they were doing, and who they were with. An image of Ajax floated to the back of her mind with his glasses and harmless smile. She’d felt nothing but danger since they’d entered the north and the feeling hadn’t abated any the further in he took them. No one was quite comfortable, and she was going to do everything in her power to make everyone she cared about as comfortable as she could.

“To a point.” Changkyun admitted rolling over to look at the other wolf. She wasn’t looking at him anymore but instead at the door. He knew she was tense, had been since they’d crossed the border. He understood, he felt it too. There was something about the north that was different, oppressive compared to the south. Something that hung in the very air, palpable and dangerous. “Guilt…” He struggled to find the right words even though he knew the moment her eyes snapped back to his that it wasn’t necessary.

“It takes time.” Jun told him with a soft smile that made him feel better, but he didn’t say that out loud. Instead he rolled over again pulling out the maps that would make both of them feel better. He’d seen her pouring over them ever since they’d arrived in the same way he had. Though he suspected their orders to do so were quite different, he knew they were looking for the same thing. “So why did you come back?” Her question made him freeze, as did the teasing lilt to her voice.

Changkyun thought about it a moment, just a moment the sadness of their situation weighing on him as he sat up to look at the older wolf. “I didn’t want him to know.” There was no need to expound upon who ‘he’ was, but he did anyway. “I don’t know what Ajax is thinking, or planning. He suggested I stay separated from them. I only went along with it because I couldn’t forgive myself. Whatever reason he had…” He trailed off again unsure of how to say what he suspected. So far Ajax had been nothing but helpful, even Yoon had yet to find a fault in him.

“I understand. We’ll keep it between us.” Jun nodded. She had gone to great lengths to ensure that Ajax hadn’t known either when the seven of them hadn’t shown up for dinner. Saying that they were finally grieving for Gunhee. Of course, she’d meant that too. And in her own way she was doing so a well. Never before realizing how much the ravenette had meant to her. How much all of the youth division had meant to her as a whole. It, like many other changes in her life, had spawned from meeting the young wolf across from her. Meeting the moon reincarnated. 

Even now, a whole week later it was hard for her to wrap her head around the idea of what, who Changkyun had been in his past life. What his bond had been with his mates and how complicated it all truly was. She’d discussed it with Yoon late one night, sitting outside Ajax’s room at one of the first motels they’d stopped at. The room across from them had housed the other six, with Changkyun one down from them. It’s not that it hadn’t been explained to them a few times. About why they’d decided to go with Ajax and why they were going north.

In the end she and her mate decided that it didn’t matter that Changkyun had been the moon goddess, or that Ajax had been one of his daughters. Nor did it matter that they needed to go north to find a moon temple. None of that mattered to her. The only thing that mattered was keeping Changkyun and his mates safe. Yoon had agreed with her as she knew he would, as he always did. Where they went was of no consequence as long as it was together. As long as she could protect those she’d sworn to. 

“I found something interesting today though,” Changkyun was pulling the maps from the other side of the motel bed and Jun tried to contain her interest. Whenever the younger wolf sounded like that she had to resist smiling at him. Yoon had told her, not too long ago now, that Changkyun brought out the mother in her. He hadn’t meant anything bad by it and the more time she spent with the brunette, holed up in motels, the more she found herself agreeing. There was little that she wouldn’t do for him, and there wasn’t much past murder that she hadn’t already done. 

Holding up the main map Changkyun tried to bite down the pride within himself. He was a little too old to be showing things off like he wanted to when it came to Jun. She made him feel safe, and she was much nicer than she wanted anyone to know. Still it wasn’t the time to be coddled, even if it was only just slightly. There was important information to be shared and Jun and Yoon were his first choice on who to share it with. “I think I found the temple.” He finished with a smirk at the drawings he’d made on the map. 

“Oh?” Jun felt a little slack jawed in her response, but she hadn’t quite believed Ajax in all that ‘find your power’ nonsense he’d spouted. Yoon had been just as skeptical but they hadn’t discouraged the younger wolf from trying it. If it got them where Changkyun wanted to go they were willing to try. And it looked like it had payed off judging by the drawings on the map Changkyun brought over to her and laid out on the desk. It reminded her of an image Judas had shown her when she was younger. It had been in the back of a book about werewolf lore. The crest of the moon it was called. 

“Do you think we can get there on our own?” Changkyun’s question made her swallow hard. It wasn’t an easy one. Nor was it was one that she felt she alone could answer. Money wasn’t something that she and her mate had ever bothered with, spending most of it on weapons that had to be left behind. They didn’t have the resources either like they did back in the company. And to top it all off neither she nor her mate knew much about the north. Despite spending their whole trip learning. Her tongue felt thick the more she thought about the answer she’d have to give. 

“No. Not alone.” It hurt more knowing that she was incapable of helping, incapable of doing much of anything really. They were too far from the territory that she and Yoon had made theirs. Too far from any of their contacts, that they’d all worked so hard making, to be of much use. She knew the moment they crossed the border they’d be knee deep in enemy territory, but unfortunately there was nowhere else to go. “We don’t have the same hold here as we did in Izumo.” 

Changkyun nodded, he’d thought that might be the case. Had worried that might be the case as they’d crossed the border. It had been the only choice though, much like separating himself from his mates had been. They were now at Ajax’s mercy in a way that he’d never wanted to be again. Though this time he wasn’t blind or naive to the evil that was Ajax’s dreams. Though he didn’t say any of that instead taking the map back and debating on telling the other wolf. Still trying to reconcile the very contrasting images of him in his mind. 

He resisted the urge to ask if they should tell Ajax. After all, he knew that they should, that telling him would get them closer to their goal. But their goal was vague, no real details about it had truly been shared with them. So instead he climbed into bed trying not to think about it anymore. It felt like the moment he solved one problem another was popping up. “You should get some sleep we leave early tomorrow.” He called over his shoulder as he settled into the mattress allowing the blankness of sleep to take him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> At this point ya'll can probably tell I've never done a sequel before. Nor had I really planned on doing it. Oh well. I hope you're still enjoying it and it has some of the X Clan vibes left.


	5. Fifth Bite

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is coming together much slower than I thought it would. But it took at least four chapters in the X clan for everyone to come together too. Crazy. But next chapter we get into the real meat of the story. Maybe I just shouldn't write sequels. 
> 
> Also sorry it took so long, more real life drama and a dash of stress left me without the desire to write much. I have started a new de~stress piece so let's hope that helps me stick to my new intended update schedule~!

Yoon frowned to himself as he opened his eyes to the sight of Ajax in a bed across from his own, it was not his idea of a good morning. Yet it was the sight he’d woken up to for the last week, would likely be the same sight he’d wake up to for a week more. At least at the pace it felt like they were going. They’d left Izumo a week ago and it didn’t feel like they were making any real progress since then. And if it weren’t for Ajax’s insistence that they were going in the right direction to meet up with his pack, to find the moon temple, to do whatever it was he was scheming, he'd call him out on it. 

Though he knew there was nothing he could do about it. They were knee deep in enemy territory, and they were headed further still. Following the leader that they’d elected out of necessity no matter how any of them truly felt about the idea. Ajax was the one who was allowing them passage through the north and he wouldn’t allow himself to forget it as he got himself up and around. The thought of relying on anyone for safety left a bad taste in the back of his mouth. Before now he couldn’t recall the last time he’d needed anyone’s protection, outside of his mate’s, in a fight. 

It hurt his pride, he was willing to admit it. He knew it hurt all of their pride if he were being honest. A trait it seemed the north brought out in all of them as he could smell a change in Changkyun when he entered the room Jun shared with him. She was awake enough to grant him a morning kiss before getting around herself. They were always the first to leave, back in Izumo and now here on the road. It would be irresponsible for them to leave all the planning in Ajax’s hands. Dangerous they were sure, even if the other wolf never gave off the feeling of a threat. 

“How is he?” Yoon kept his voice low as he checked on the only wolf he’d swear his loyalty to, pushing his bangs back from his face. Something in his heart warmed at the smile that earned him even in Changkyun’s sleep. Glancing over his shoulder he saw the soft look Jun was giving them both, it made his heart squeeze to see her that happy. It was all he truly needed, her happiness. Turning back to Changkyun drawing his fingers back he realized that wasn’t quite true anymore. There were now several people whose happiness he’d die to protect. It was a strange feeling, but not something unwelcome.

“He’s better.” Jun smiled turning back to the task at hand as she thought about how far Yoon had come. How far they had come since meeting the werewolf in the other bed. But she only let her thoughts linger there a moment, there were more important matters to discuss. “They made up.” She said it lightly but they both knew it wasn’t a light matter. Ajax was keeping close tabs on how Changkyun was doing with his mates, to whatever end it would see him to. Neither of them were convinced it was a good one. 

“That’s good then.” Though he had said it Yoon wasn’t sure he believed it. He’d been watching Ajax for a week now and not a single slip of his plans had become known. Instead he’d only seen a businessman conducting business, making phone calls, decisions, and talking to people related to that business. No hints of what kind of place they were in store for or what Changkyun and his mates had to do with it. Which was why neither Yoon nor Jun had tried to stop the younger wolves from agreeing with the decision to stay in separate rooms, or to see each other less.

Still watching Changkyun keep his mates at an arm’s distance had been hard for them. Not that Yoon would ever admit it aloud, he knew that Jun might. She’d changed, somehow she was softer, even more so than when she had first met Changkyun. She’d grown to more openly trust in the youth division and to care for them in the years they’d spent together, to a smaller degree so had he. He just wouldn’t allow himself to say it aloud, not that it bothered him that his mate would. He wanted for her everything she wanted for herself. To himself he admitted he wanted that for all of them. 

“Have you heard from Judas?” Yoon just barely stopped himself from turning to look at his mate hearing the emotion in her voice. He was sure if the members had heard her they would do a double take at the obvious concern. But if he were being honest he was concerned as well. They’d been forced to flee the city and anyone that worked under them no matter how remotely had been put at risk, was probably still at risk. Unlike the youth division they hadn’t been offered safe passage into the north. 

The north after all was no safe place for a werewolf not of a northern pack. While Changkyun and the remaining members of the youth division didn’t seem phased by it, saying it felt like the moon, that wasn’t how Yoon felt. He and his mate knew better, they knew that the north was the territory of the oldest and most brutal of vampires. And that it contained more vampires than the south by the thousands if not more. The scent of them was everywhere and had been since they’d approached the border. 

“I have.” Yoon pulled out his phone showing her the messages he’d exchanged with her uncle and a few of the other street runners he’d been able to reach. “They aren’t out of the fire yet but they’re running.” He resisted the urge to sigh at the awful truth that they were all in the same boat. Being trapped in the north was no better than being trapped in south, and in the south they’d at least had more men to rely on. Jun nodded taking his phone and skimming the messages her frown growing with each one.

Jun scowled as she read the last text from Ms. Momeki, it wasn’t promising. “They’re crazier than I thought.” She sighed heavily looking at the young wolf still sleeping in the second bed, unaffected in sleep by the fate he’d set into motion. Not that she begrudged him or the actions she’d taken along with him. It was just that now everything was complicated and she like the members was still grieving for what they’d had. 

“The legends Hyunwoo mentioned a while back said the moon goddess would reunite the werewolves.” Yoon shrugged taking his phone back and heading towards the door. He didn’t believe them of course, but he also couldn’t explain why Changkyun smelt like the moon or why events had played out like they had. Though he supposed an old legend people still believed was as good a reason as any for violence and subjugation. It was the very same legend the alpha of their previous pack had believed in, only he’d thought himself better than the moon. Looking back at Changkyun, who snuggled further into his pillow Yoon knew better.

Swearing once more on his loyalty Yoon took to the streets asking around for the items they desperately needed. If they were going to be facing vampires, allies or not, he wasn’t going to be unprepared. So far they’d been able to acquire a few things, not nearly enough should anything happen but some was better than none. And they’d be leaving this city in a few hours, he’d need to get what he could before they left in case their next stop was the one. 

Jun smiled at him as they ran through the shadows of dawn as if they didn’t have a care in the world. But he knew by the time they returned the others would be waking up, and Ajax himself would take another twenty minutes after them. Then as a group they’d get breakfast and draw lots for the day for which of Changkyun’s mates would ride with him. While as always Mal Rae and Mal Rak would be driving two of the cars to whatever destination their boss had plotted out for them. And Ajax would drive the last one whose passenger list never changed from himself and Hyunwoo.

It was a haphazard set up but Yoon had agreed to it in order to keep Changkyun with Jun and away from Ajax alone for any length of time. Looking at his mate now, her face set as she haggled with an arms dealer he smiled. He was thankful at least for these early mornings, they reminded him of before the pack, before the beta had taken favor with them. It reminded him why he still loved her and the violent ways they lived for. He smiled harder when they walked away with what they wanted. Just like they always did, and they would still from Ajax and his pack.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been rereading the X Clan to make sure this lines up well enough. I still haven't finished oops but I do hope you're enjoying this sequel regardless.


	6. Sixth Bite

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's always hard revealing just the right amount of information. Hopefully you all feel that you've got some answers and some clues from this.
> 
> Sorry I'm so slow on this. I miss world building, but there will be interesting vampire facts coming up next chapter?

Looking at the two cars behind his back Ajax smiled to himself pushing up his fake glasses. He could smell the unrest from his pack even this far away as they stopped for a quick break from the road. Changkyun was with his mates in the convenience store buying snacks, he could see the brunette through the window smiling and lapping up the affectionate touches and words from his mates. Not that he needed the visual to know that they’d made up, he’d been able to smell it earlier in the morning. The stronger scent of the moon that followed them all. 

It was that scent that was driving his pack wild, werewolves and vampires alike. Even though he’d warned them he doubted they understood the extent of what he’d been trying to tell them. He supposed they hadn’t quite believed him or that they’d be able to smell it this far away. He didn’t care as long as they acted presentable when they arrived or what was the point in playing up the nice guy image? If they ruined it for him the plan would be ruined for sure. They couldn’t have a blood cleansing if the moon refused them. 

Of course his pack’s behavior wasn’t the only problem. Ajax found his eyes drifting towards Yoon, stoic and fairly unreadable most of the time. His scent like his taller mate’s was weak, so weak it was hard for Mal Rae and Mal Rak to follow them. Meaning he had to play his cards much safer and closer to his chest than he had originally anticipated. He’d been hoping the beta’s plot would take out at least one of them. But there wasn’t anything he could do about it now. He hadn’t known about Changkyun before it was too late to offer his assistance.

Granted his own plans and the beta’s had always been miles apart. Her plan had been to screw him over and blame him for the deaths of her youth division. While his plan had been to take what he wanted from her company, screw them over and look good for his new, now impressed business partners. He’d actually had his eye on a few of the youth division members as well as a few other choice employees. The joint company in the north would have been a farce but the skills he’d have taken from hers weren’t. Their loss would have hurt.

Things hadn’t played out like he thought they would though. Not after discovering Changkyun was in the company so late in the game. It had been a scramble to arrange things to line up perfectly for him, but he’d managed and now Changkyun, and his mates were with him in the north. Exactly where he wanted them to be, unfortunately they came with extra, unnecessary, baggage that wasn’t in the least useful to his plans. If anything Jun and Yoon were counterproductive to them. Their names too well known among both werewolves and vampires. 

They as a pair were a problem, one that he couldn’t take care of anymore as he saw how happy they made Changkyun. It was an unexpected turnout but one he'd have to make due with. He smiled at Yoon as the others finally came out of the store. Mal Rae was trailing them. Changkyun was riding in her car today, so she was tasked with keeping an eye on him and other’s hands off. They had already put down a few strays that didn’t know their place in the north, or were too far gone to the scent of the moon to care. It didn’t matter, if they couldn’t control themselves that was their own problem, not his. They were no loss.

“Did you buy me a snack?” Ajax sing-songed to Changkyun watching his face for any signs of discomfort, it was like looking through a clear mask. The younger wolf was trying so hard to hide the expression of his emotions, as well as the scent of them. It might have worked on someone else, it might have worked if it were not for how well he understood his mother in their past life, the expressions of the moon were echoed in Changkyun’s face. An overlap of who he was to who he had become. It helped that Ajax knew Changkyun too, had in a way raised him to be the wolf he was today.

“I didn’t.” Changkyun’s voice was low as always, but Ajax could hear that he was taken off guard. Over the course of the three stops today, the first for gas, the second for food, and then this break they had barely spoken. Ajax hadn’t pressed him to speak to him, not today. It allowed him to better judge the younger and how he hid his secrets. Though he doubted that Mal Rae or Mal Rak had noticed the difference in the amount they spoke, he knew Yoon had from the alert way he turned to him when Changkyun answered.

He pretended to be upset, slinging his arm around the brunette. The bristling of every wolf not his own around him was instantaneous and unmistakable. So was the swell of power underneath his arm, he’d known Changkyun had turned but that was only the first step. “That’s not very nice. And here I am offering you my protection in the north.” He kept his voice teasing, but he knew none of them missed his intent. He wasn’t here to play their friend, playing their friend was just to his advantage before. Now they were his, and he would keep them by any means necessary. 

Yoon barely contained the growl in his throat as he walked up to Ajax, holding out the snack Jun had bought for him. “Here. We need to leave or we won’t make it anywhere by nightfall.” Ajax took it with a grin wider than it deserved, Yoon wasn’t fooled by it. Or the overly friendly thanks. None of them were, the air was too tense with whatever game he’d decided to play. It wasn’t the first time he’d acted like this since they’d crossed the border. But he’d also never acted on his veiled threats either. Which told him that the waters were being tested, the older wolf was seeing where the line was.

The tension only broke when Ajax removed his arm and Yoon could hear the release of relieved breaths, quiet but there. No more words were said as they piled into cars, there was a long road ahead according to Ajax and only one more stop left before they reached wherever his pack was staying. Still Yoon felt a sense of foreboding the closer they got, the map he’d looked over with Jun filling in the pieces of where they were. And he knew, just as he’d suspected, the pack was in a location that would benefit them none.


	7. Seventh Bite

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I know last chapter was a set up chapter, as is this one. But now that we're here there is a bit more to the story. It just doesn't fit as smoothly because of the traveling. I"m sooo ready to be done with the traveling bits!!!! I do hope you're enjoying it even if it's just as slow to build up as the X Clan.

Ajax smiled to himself looking on at the confusion in the other wolves as they pulled into an empty clearing by what seemed to be nothing but a forest. Of course they all knew better with the heavy scent of wolves and vampires in the air. And to him his pack’s reaction was palpable from here, even without a pack bond he was sure they others felt it. From here they would walk. Of course he hadn’t told them that yet but he didn’t need to to know what their reactions would be. Still as they had been doing since he’d saved them he’d have them dancing in the palm of his hand, doing as he said. 

Inwardly he allowed himself to hope that soon Changkyun would break free of it. That he would blossom into his soul right, into the true moon. He didn’t dare voice it aloud. The words of his sister, Aibell echoing over and over in his head with her warnings. He had heeded most of them at least when it came to dealing with the beta, but she like he had been unaware their mother would be involved in the end. Though he knew he’d hear about it soon as he looked through the forest, he wondered how Changkyun and his mates would react to his ‘lair’. 

Hyunwoo noticed the small shift in Ajax as he smiled at the forest, his thoughts not quite as hidden as he’d kept them most of the journey there. Even without asking he knew they’d be walking the rest of the way. He felt like he should have known and the feeling was echoed down the link to his mate and his brothers. One look at Yoon and Jun told him they were unhappy but not surprised either. This location was not one they’d selected on the map, but had talked about privately. It was the least advantageous to a newcomer of the north.

Of course Hyunwoo knew that’s why it was chosen. For the same reason their now renounced pack had used the warehouse for their meetings. A werewolf pack did not survive long in modern times without either adapting or hiding, or both. And it seemed Ajax had taken his pack along the path of both, alongside the vampires he worked with. He could smell them too mixed in with the scent of wolves. Though he noticed ever since Changkyun had accepted their bond vampires smelled different, as did wolves. There was always an underlying scent that reminded him of his mate. 

A subtle but there scent of the moon that Changkyun did not possess except to everyone but his brother’s and their mate. It awoke something in him that told him that in a strange way he was the father of werewolves in much the same way the moon was their mother. A feeling that resided along the bond between all of his brothers that they never quite addressed. It felt odd, like an ever present knowing in much the same way they knew their mate was once the moon. In much the same way they knew who they were before this lifetime. 

His thoughts were interrupted when Ajax spoke drawing the attention to himself and his hounds. Both of whom had been pleasant, nice and in a way a bit like loyal dogs. Only barking and baring their fangs when pressed to do so. Nothing like the wild wolves that Jun and Yoon had long proven themselves to be. Even now the younger pair were stationed like bodyguards, threatening and menacing but he knew they were weaker than they appeared. A dog wasn’t likely to beat a wolf. 

“We’ll be walking the rest of the way.” Ajax made his voice authoritative, his eyes seeking out the eyes of the wolves with him. They didn’t seem surprised, but he lingered on Hyunwoo just a few seconds longer before he spoke again. Hoseok to his left was adjusting his stance in a way that screamed impatience. “When we arrive my pack will be waiting for us. We should arrive at night fall so that all of my pack will be awake.” He tried to ignore the flinch from Changkyun, it hurt him to force him into this. But it was necessary to his plans. It was necessary for Changkyun.

“All of your pack?” Minhyuk knew his voice was icy, a bit on the dangerous side. He knew the circumstances they were under here. But nothing could hold back his ire at the way he felt the discomfort in his mate. The slow shift of ‘I can do this’ to fear taking place in Changkyun at the thought of vampires. None of them wanted him to go near a single one ever again. Even knowing that their mate had made the decision to come here on his own. 

“Yes all of my pack.” Ajax lifted an eyebrow at the blonde noticing he didn’t back down, and he felt hope in that gesture. It was important that he win over Changkyun’s mates as well. He needed all of them in order to bathe the werewolves in the blood they so desperately needed. “It is customary as you know.” He continued his eyes landing back on Changkyun who had been through this process several more times than anyone else present. “They won't harm you.” He knew that his words weren't likely to be believed but they are true, he knew the moon would see the truth. 

“Does this pack structure include the vampires?” Of course Changkyun knew without asking that it would, but he could feel the worry, the protectiveness in his mates through their bond. They weren’t feelings he could ease as memories from Nu’bility circled in his mind, the faces of his friends, the slaughter, his captivity. But he wasn’t some damsel in distress, he was a werewolf newly turned and stronger than his memories. At least he wanted be believe so as he stared into Ajax’s eyes trying to see what he might be thinking. It was a moot point as the elder only nodded.

He allowed himself one moment of weakness, a closing of his eyes and a loud sigh. Drawing on the strength of his mates through their link, feeling the warmth of them around him. He wasn’t alone, he wasn’t powerless this time. He nodded back taking the first step towards Ajax which his mates followed, their understanding ever present in their actions. They all knew weakness wasn’t, couldn’t be part of the game. And even having left the company they were still playing. Once you were in the life it was extremely hard to leave.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The pacing should settle down next chapter and there will finally be the the reveal of Ajax's plans and all that jazz. I think this is about half over? Don't quote me.


	8. Eighth Bite

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I swear after this I'm not doing anymore sequels. But we're finally where I wanted to be. I've been wanting to write about the vampires since mid way through the X Clan. Though the information will be split in two chapters cause this one got long and intense...oops

Ajax said the walk would be short for which Jooheon was thankful, despite being a werewolf the woods were no place for him. A lesson he’d learned a long time ago when he was much younger with Gunhee. He wished his best friend could be with him now as they slowly and silently made their way. Into what he was sure was more of a trap than anything else so far. He could feel the tension through his brother’s and their mate’s resolve. He wanted to be strong for Changkyun, he wanted to be everything their mate needed in the moment. Instead it was his mate smiling and reassuring him as they were lead onward. 

It made him feel weak as Changkyun walked with his head held high, even though Jooheon could feel their mate was more afraid than the rest of them. It didn’t show, much like it hadn’t shown before their pack’s gathering either. And he couldn’t help wondering how many times this had happened before, though he didn’t push for an answer knowing he’d get one. There was nothing they could hide from each other if they chose to see it. In the same manner he didn’t need to question what the other’s felt. Their uneasiness settling into him as if it were his own. 

So did their strength and resolve which was what kept him going even as the path before them grew darker. They were all capable of seeing in the dark but there was a different quality to the lack of light in nature than there was in a dark alley in the city. Though Jooheon could tell that difference only unnerved him and Minhyuk who spent the least amount of time away from the offices. While Hyunwoo, Kihyun, and Hyungwon had each taken many trips out of the city on ‘errands’ for various assignments. And Hoseok had come from a pack that lived more in farmland than in a city. Though it was hard to tell that these days as he’d adjusted quickly to the life of a city. 

Jooheon supposed in a way Hoseok had been forced to. They all had, as many of the wolves in their previous pack had come from other places. Several of them subjugated and assimilated just as Jun and Yoon’s packs had been. A conquest of the alpha’s ambition. One that Jooheon hadn’t seen a problem with until Hoseok had been broken by the beta. It wasn’t until then he’d started to question the pack and their methods. Their violence. He couldn’t help looking at Jun as he thought it, she and her mate were violence in the flesh. Violence that was barely contained at the scent of vampires as they stopped, just beyond the trees he could make out a building.

Changkyun could feel the uneasiness around him as they stopped and Ajax turned to them. His stomach knotted and on instinct he grabbed for his the closest of his mate’s hands. The smooth feel of Hoseok and Hyungwon’s hands made him feel better even though he knew it was an illusion of safety. It was nice to not feel alone. To know that no matter what happened beyond the treeline there were wolves who loved him and he loved in return, a place he belonged. A feeling he had thought he’d never had so completely before. And he would fight to keep it.

Though he hoped fighting was not required as Ajax had said. It usually wasn’t at pack meetings, no the fighting usually came later. But just as he’d known last time he’d been called before a pack there was no running. There was nowhere to run to while they were in the north. They were too far in vampire country to flee when he knew that every vampire or wolf in range would seek them out simply for their scent. It had happened a few times already. Without the word of Ajax protecting them it would only happen in greater numbers. 

“I do hope you enjoy our home.” Ajax’s smile was sincere, that much Changkyun could tell. But he could also tell that it was hiding something, something important. He couldn’t ask though as the elder wolf went on, his words slow as he pushed up the glasses he didn’t need. The wolves on either side of him anxious with twitchy smiles as if they were hiding their desire to be home. “Maybe when you see it, it will jog some of your memories.” He wanted to ask what that meant but he didn’t, he wasn’t sure he wanted to know. 

Yet Changkyun got the distinct feeling he’d know as soon as they passed the treeline whether he wanted to or not. He found himself taking and holding his breath as well as his mate’s hands as he followed Ajax out of the woods. A breath he choked on when he saw what Ajax’s vampire nest looked like. It felt like an affront, a slap to the face, and all of his worst nightmares wrapped into one. His spine went ramrod straight and he couldn’t take another step. His arms being pulled as his mates stepped tentatively forward. Until they felt his anxiety like a panic attack against their link.

Kihyun was the first to stop, his heart beating wildly as he looked on at the building, a replica he knew. It must have been based on someone’s memories because it was too accurate, too real. He wanted to scream as Changkyun’s feelings rallied with his own in a cry of pain against the universe. They alone understood the insult this was to the moon, the travesty of what was happening here. Instantly he hated Ajax more than he had before, the idea he was not a threat breaking in his mind. It couldn’t be true if he was willing to put Changkyun through this, to put them through it. 

Hoseok took one look from Changkyun, his panic and pain seeping from him like an open wound pouring blood then to Kihyun who was an icy counterence. He knew, they all knew in an instant what was wrong. Still he looked to Hyungwon before he moved, so they moved as one engulfing their mate in their arms. Staring at the abomination before them, understanding what it meant. What they felt Ajax should know what it meant. He did conceded to himself, silently that it was possible Ajax didn’t know. In the same way they didn’t know until Changkyun had felt this way. 

Still it was an affront to use this design for a nest of vampires, for they were no children of the moon. And even though Hoseok was normally peaceful it set his blood boiling thinking about how upset even seeing the outside their mate already was. He didn’t want to take even one step further towards what waited for them. But he, like the others knew it would be impossible to turn back. Even if they could the memories surfacing at the sight before them kept them locked in place. 

Ajax allowed himself to turn and smile. It was cruel, he knew but it was necessary to get what he wanted and he’d always been willing to do what was required of him since he’d come to understand how correct Hecate was. She alone had the answer that would give his mother, give Changkyun what he wanted most despite not being aware of it. The first step was to make him aware, make him remember. Which was why after Changkyun had left and he’d gotten the proper connections and funds he’d had this built. It had been costly and the reactions behind were painful, but he would make sure they were worth it. 

He chanced a glance at Hyunwoo, his face was stone but Ajax knew those stoic expressions better than anyone. Better than his mother ever had as she’d only claimed him, any of her mates besides her chosen once. It had been long before he’d been born in that life. It still stung knowing that once he’d been in love with the soul housed in that body, a soul that had only been kind to him. Neither of their former selves had been very happy in the arrangement but he was still thankful to know that Hyunwoo could, would be happy again. 

Hyunwoo felt Ajax staring at him and it made his skin shiver with something other than the chill breeze of the night. His memories were replaying over and over of what he could recall of a building like this one in the past. They weren’t all his own as they jumbled together across his mind. Playing out like a distorted picture book out of order. He knew what had happened there because he could feel the pain, the memories, the terror of what had been done. It wasn’t here though, it wasn’t here and he had to remind his mate and his brothers of that soothing the emotional turmoil they’d fallen into. 

It took effort, but with help from Hyunwoo’s calming thoughts Changkyun was able to regain control of himself staring ahead. He could do this, he would. He had to. Still it hurt to see what he knew was a replica of the goddess’, his, original moon temple. To smell it shoved full of vampires and to know what they did to him, memories coming back of how they weren’t really the moon’s children. She’d never mothered them willingly. But the details were fuzzy in his mind of how they’d come to be. Though he knew in the end they were still born of the moon.

What wasn’t fuzzy was how he’d died in a temple that looked like this. Though that temple hadn’t been exactly like this one. It was close. This one though was built as if it were buried in a landslide down the hill it came out of. The dirt on top sloping over the sides of over half the building on this side. He could tell though it wasn’t the case on the other side, the side that faced away from the rising sun. The columns were the same though and the overall Greek looking aesthetic fused with the curls of Asian temples. The goddess hadn’t died here in the north, nor had she lived here for that long. Ever wandering to spread her children.

Still it was too eerie the way it brought to mind his tomb, her tomb really. It had been the same temple he’d spent his last days in with the goddess’ chosen mate, the place they’d returned to when the goddess finally started to feel her bond. It was the place she lived the longest and had loved visiting most as a goddess. Now it’s replica was modified to accommodate vampires. He could smell the crypt even at this distance. His nose having gotten stronger with his bond to Minhyuk. It could pick up the smell of death coming from the earth. For to him that was what vampires always smelled like. No matter what anyone else said they did.

Taking a deep breath he forced himself to push Hyungwon and Hoseok away, letting go of their hands and walking on his own. Like every other time he’d been taken before a pack he knew he couldn’t look weak. Weakness was something that was exploited, he wouldn’t allow that here. He would be strong for mates. This time he would show them that he cared through his actions, by getting them out of the mess he’d landed them in. If he’d known it would be like this he never would have gone with Ajax. 

The thought left a guilty ping in his conscious for Hecate, but he felt guiltier for making Kihyun feel the way he did. Sharp pains were echoing in his chest, each knife wound they’d both suffered at the hands of humans and silver. For that was how they’d both died, treated like monsters by the humans the goddess had been so benevolent to. The thought twisted in his chest before he let it go, forcing himself to breathe and send his own calming thoughts to join Hyunwoo’s. All the while he could feel Ajax watching them, him. 

Only a few minutes had passed when they were moving again, their bond their shield as they approached the temple. Changkyun could feel the trepidation along the link, his own included but he knew they had to do this. Not just to get out of the north but to settle things from their past that needed to be settled. He wanted to move on from this, to accept everything that had happened, to be happy with his mates now. They deserved it and he wanted it for them. Though he had a sinking feeling whatever it was Ajax wanted from it wasn’t going to bring them happiness. 

Changkyun took another deep breath as they walked up the stairs of the temple, his mouth filling with the scent and taste of death. It was familiar as he remembered more of his last moments. The faces of the humans around him, each knife slice to his skin or each penetrating thrust. Ajax and his hounds were silent the whole way to the door, but he could tell that the elder wolf had gotten some of what he wanted. And it was only now that Changkyun realized he might know what it was after all. His closest daughter’s face flitted over Ajax’s for a second as he recalled telling her often that he missed being the Moon, a goddess as she was growing up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well we're finally into the thick of things a full 8 chapters later and I thought I really could do six...Either way I hope you're still enjoying as the plot continues to unfold.


	9. Ninth Bite

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I might be able to wrap this up here soonish??? I mean the writing is on the wall but I wouldn't give a definite on how many chapters there are left. This chapter itself doubled what I thought it would be....meaning we're still going into another chapter to finally discuss vampire origins....

Even before they stepped into the temple Minhyuk’s nose was twitching the scent of wolves and vampires of vast quantities filling it. He’d never before been surrounded by so many scents that reminded him of the moon, and he had to admit that he didn’t quite like it. That was even without Changkyun’s dislike and his brother’s piled on top of his own. Though he bit back any comment he had on the scent. Werewolves and vampires had never liked each other’s scents in the whole history of their races. He was starting to puzzle together why.

It didn’t matter though, not now. What mattered now was that Changkyun had suddenly and abruptly cut off his emotions the moment they opened the door. Actually, it felt like they all had as they looked around what was a familiar interior, even though it wasn’t. A second glance gave way to the modern conveniences their temple had never had. It was similar enough though to make him uneasy the further in they went. Making their way to the throne room, where the goddess had hidden her presence and taken offerings and prayers from humans for years. 

What had been a throne room in the original layout was now a large room with a single raised dais at the back and no throne, but it was full of wolves and vampires alike. A single line dividing them down the middle when they walked in, but not a single pair of eyes looked back. Minhyuk found himself swallowing and moving closer to Changkyun and Hyungwon who led the way right behind Ajax and his hounds. There wasn’t a single sound except that of breathing and their footsteps. This pack was infinitely more obedient than their previous one had been. 

He could just make out a single woman standing on the dais, even with his vision he couldn’t quite see her face as she was so far away. But even at the distance something felt familiar, almost in the same way the temple did. Yet he could smell she was a vampire. Her smile was full of fang, growing wider the closer they got. So was his unease at being surrounded by this many enemies. He didn’t need to ask Jun or Yoon what their chances were of getting out, they weren’t even slim they were just none. 

Despite his own unease and what he knew was an uneasiness the others felt, though he couldn’t feel it with their emotions closed to him, they finally reached the end of the room. There was a good two feet left empty before the dais, filled with candlesticks as if this room were still used the way it had once been in a different temple. The woman smiled down at them, her fangs not hidden as her eyes closed in delight. There was still silence in room as she appraised them, as if judging their worth. It felt different to be on the receiving end of it after so many years as a youth division leader making the decisions. 

Minhyuk wasn’t surprised when Ajax and his hounds stepped up the dais, the hounds slipping beside her as if she was their true master. He had wondered about their loyalty on the road, seeing the way they worked with Ajax told him more they were not his, not really, but they were. It made sense now and he could smell the understanding on the others. He missed feeling it in the link they shared, the bond that in here felt distant. As if it were trapped by their own memories of the place they stood in. He didn’t like it. And from the look on Hyungwon’s face he didn’t either.

Hyungwon frowned looking up at Ajax and the vampire, the idea of a werewolf and a vampire working together made his skin crawl. It always had, it made him feel differently today. There was something still not right about the union, but their scents when next to each like this complemented each other in a grotesque way. As if they made a whole moon the light and the dark. It made his hackles rise just knowing that vampires had anything to do with the moon. That at one point they’d had to have had something to do with the moon, with Changkyun. 

He wasn’t sure what vampires had to do with the moon. No wolf was entirely sure, their origin stories varied even more than the werewolves did. There was only one that he’d heard of, it came to mind now watching the vampires beside them, still and as immovable as death. It told that the vampires were born from the blood of the moon. Dropped on a leaf as she passed it, a poor human had harvested it with their crops and ate it. Since then they’d craved blood and been unable to walk among any light but the moon’s. Somehow he thought it might be too light of a tale for the truth.

The truth didn't’ matter though, not right now. Not in the face of Changkyun’s stiffness and ill ease. He couldn’t feel it as well as he could outside the temple, this place playing tricks on the bond they’d strengthened. He wondered if it was because it was like stepping into a time capsule where the moon hadn’t accepted the link. But just like the creation of vampires it didn’t matter why, it mattered that even through it he could feel Changkyun’s fear. Not that their mate would show it, instead standing tall and facing what he hated. It was admirable. 

Hyungwon wanted nothing more than to take that admirable trait and break it. To take their mate somewhere safe, somewhere that trait would never have to be used so seriously again. He wasn’t given time to think of where as the duo on the dais moved again, Ajax having whispered something to the vampire softly, too soft for them to hear it even in the silence. Though he guessed it was along the lines of informing her that they had no idea who she was. Even if they had their own speculations, Ajax had told them nothing about his pack other than they were being lead to it. 

“Welcome,” Ajax smiled out at his pack and the youth division. He couldn’t stop his eyes from lingering on Changkyun. He could see his discomfort, his fear but he needed him to work past it for this plan. He knew there wasn’t a vampire here who would cause the brunette harm, his mates were safe as well. But he knew it would take convincing for any of the new wolves before him to believe that. Vampires were, had always been enemies of the moon and her other children. “This is Aibell, the queen of the vampires.” 

He waved his arm over to his sister, her eyes glued to their mother as she smiled. He’d told her not to show her fangs but she was doing it anyway. But he refused to show his displeasure as he smiled reassuringly. The looks he got back were hollow, more distrusting than they had been on the way here. He knew why but it still hurt to know that no matter that he was doing this for Changkyun, for his mates that they didn’t like him or trust him. He’d have to work hard to change their minds, but later. “She is the second in command of my pack.”

“Nice to meet you.” Aibell’s voice was like honey, but despite the fact it was warm and inviting Changkyun wanted nothing to do with anything it said. The feeling of being brought before vampires was infinitely worse than being brought before wolves to be judged. He couldn’t hear any of the vampires moving beside them and save for her smile neither had Aibell. Keeping perfectly still, but he knew that one lunge was deadly. Even with Jun, Yoon, and his mates around him he couldn’t feel safe. The feeling of hands all over him persisting. 

Shaking the thoughts away was harder this time than anytime before. But Changkyun managed to do it as he stepped forward. There was something familiar about this Aibell as there was with Ajax. A feeling that didn’t exist in the now, that seemed to come from a different place. The same kind of feeling he got from the temple like design and trying to recall his memories of before. “Do you know about the curse of the moon?” He wasn’t sure why he’d asked, but he knew it was important. That queen of the vampires wasn’t the important part of Aibell’s titles. 

“I do.” Aibell smiled, it had been a very long time since she’d laid eyes on the soul of her mother. She had been the youngest back then, with her longest and now she was the second to see her. Though it was difficult to suppress how much it hurt knowing that Changkyun, her mother’s new life, feared her. Feared her kind. How it might have been different if it weren’t for her own curse that the moon had laid upon her. “We have much to discuss about it.” She smiled and pretended not to notice the flinch. 

She’d expected this, for all of them to be wary. To be afraid as Ajax had told them next to nothing. She’d wanted it that way even if it did make things difficult for the moment. She preferred the shadows, being the unknown. Even Ajax’s company was unaware of her officially despite the fact she owned great stakes in it, had footed most of the starter bills. As unlike Ajax she didn’t need Hecate’s guidance to know what must be done. She had the ancient wisdom of the vampires, the power of the blood and body of the moon. The whole mission of the vampires was the same as Ajax’s, to a point at least. 

“Let us retire to another, more private room.” She added softly her eyes darting out over the vast army of wolves and vampires she’d amassed. The pawns to bring her to her own goals, to the joint goal of her and her once sister. To end the curse they lived with, though she doubted Ajax really understood what he was getting in to. The sacrifice she was going to make, the one she knew he didn’t understand. Hecate hadn’t told him what she didn't’ need to be told. “Where we can discuss returning you to your seat as the moon.” 

Collectively Changkyun could feel the shock of his mates, distantly down the bond. Their own surprise not quite equal to his own. Or the visions of a realization that hit him full force. A type of understanding of what it truly meant to be a reborn goddess. That even now, as a werewolf he had power and it wasn’t just in the scent that he carried. But the thought was gone as quickly as it had come. Chasing after the words the vampire had spoken as if they were the key to unlocking them.

Still he didn’t want to go anywhere private with her, though he knew he wouldn’t be made to go anywhere without his mates. Or without Jun or Yoon. Ajax had assured him of this several times on their journey here. Though he’d looked displeased he wasn’t trusted each time, it hadn’t mattered. Ajax knew he’d given Changkyun reasons to distrust him. But this was different from a distrust because of betrayed feelings and morally questionable practices. Cannibalism and what the vampires had done weren’t quite on the same level.

“What do you mean?” Hoseok asked stepping up to Changkyun, he could feel the tension from their mate. The reawakened pain he understood so well. He’d felt it too when he’d seen the beta right afterwards. Her position allowing her to do as she pleased, a losing battle or not Hoseok was not going to allow that to happen here. It was obvious they were needed for this, and they were preferred to be willing. He hoped they were willing to work to keep them that way.

“I mean exactly as I said. There is much to discuss, and our pack would much rather go enjoy their free time in the night than listen to us.” Aibell’s voice wasn’t convincing, Hoseok could hear the dishonesty in it just like he’d heard in most of the beta’s sweet words. On instinct alone he knew she couldn’t be trusted, not completely. But there was logic to what she said as well. “You know this temple as well as I, in good faith I’ll allow you to name the room you wish to use. They may be more modern now but they all still exist.” 

“And if we want to stay here?” Changkyun knew he wouldn’t chose to but he wanted to see her reaction. It was important to know how far he could push them, how much he was able to get away with even with the odds so stacked against them. For some reason he got the impression it was much more than they wanted him to know. Which only made him want to know more. They needed him for something and he knew that meant he had more power over them than they wanted to conceded to.

“If it suits you.” Aibell pursed her lips and lifted her hands, she didn’t want to send her pawns away. They were a show of how much power the pack held, how easily they took to orders. Changkyun had effectively called their bluff and she was both happy and unhappy about it. Her tricks weren’t likely to work on him. Her power would be as useless before the moon as any of her children’s. Well not all of them but she knew that blood magic wouldn’t win her any favors. Changkyun’s history was one she was well versed in.

“No we’ll adjourn to the private devotion room.” Changkyun sighed, the room wasn’t nearly as big as this one. It wouldn’t allow them as much space but it was a comfortable place, or had been. It sat easily in his memories as one of the places he spent the most time. Listening to humans or observing his daughters as they grew so quickly. Before he married them off. It was also the place he’d been headed to from the throne room when he died as the goddess. The memories slowly coming back to him of what had happened. 

“Very well.” With a smile Ajax took the lead again showing them to the room they all knew well from their past lives. In a sort of nostalgic sentiment he’d made sure it was similar to how it had been the last time he’d been in it. Full of incense, pillows, and fruit. It lacked tables but it was comfortable in how everyone would sit on the floor in a closeness. Though he knew the room would be divided down the middle. Himself and Aibell on side while Changkyun and his party would be on the opposite side. He hoped by the end of this they’d come to his.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If this gets confusing at any point just let me know. We're finally into main plot stuff but it's a lot more than it has been so far information wise.


	10. Tenth Bite

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok so to start I'm really tired lately, I fucked up my sleeping schedule for Day6 and haven't fixed it yet. That said that's why this is late. And if you're reading Monsta the Band it was updated previously (aka 2x in a row) so it's not late. 
> 
> As to the story. Welll...It's been making me anxious, like my writing sucks so it might cahnge this one to every two weeks. Until I'm less stressed. Though tbh there's not much left now. We'll end on either 12 or 14 chapters.

Kihyun couldn’t help feeling a little uncomfortable as they entered the room Changkyun had chosen. It had previously been one of his favorites. It had been a room he spent time with the goddess in, frequently watching their daughters. Daughters who were now sitting across from him albeit with new lives, new bodies, and in one’s case a new gender. But he knew them, even if Changkyun wasn’t quite sure on Aibell, he could tell. She had been their youngest, her smile hadn’t changed from the last life into this one, neither had her name. A curiosity but he felt certain there was a reason. But, that wasn’t why he felt out of place.

It was only as everyone was settling down into the pillowy seat cushions, Changkyun leaning against him while his other side was squashed up to Jooheon, that he remembered. This room had been where he died as well. His last moments had been spent looking through one of the small peep holes as he watched his mate, the moon be slaughtered. Blinking away the memories he squeezed Changkyun’s waist reminding himself that his mate was there, that the others were there too. Pressed as closely together as they could get with Jun and Yoon at the back. 

On the other side of the room, just barely big enough for twenty, were Ajax and Aibell. Their hounds outside the door. As if there would be any escape if they did happen to do something to Ajax or Aibell and Kihyun knew it. They all knew it, their scents reminding him of how trapped they truly were. But he hoped it might not be as bad as they thought, as bad as Changkyun thought. Their mate’s mind weighing on old memories they couldn’t sweep away from him. Memories they could only comfort him against as they sat in a room with a vampire, their mate’s newest nightmare.

A silence reigned as soon as they’d settled down, a stand off of wills. Kihyun had experienced it before with many other packs and companies, the silence of information they needed weighing on him, they all had at least once. It was par for the course in their line of work. There was always someone out there with something they needed for their company that was held over them. And just like now Kihyun knew the first to break was the one that was more desperate for what was the on the line. 

Faintly he could feel the need to wait, to stand tall along the bond. A feeling he could feel echoing in his bones as he stared across the room at Aibell, her wide eyes unblinking while Ajax smiled knowingly. There was feeling sitting ill on his stomach at the way they smiled, a knowing that whatever they offered came with a price. A price that might be more than they were willing to pay, even if they wanted it. 

Aibell sighed to herself breaking the silence, she’d known this would be a game to the businessmen in the room. And surely if she left things up to them they’d be at a standstill for hours. And while she could wait hours, years even without the need to move or even breathe she didn’t want to. “I,” She began noticing the way Changkyun flinched again at her voice, the subtle gesture of her hand. It hurt her to know that her mother’s new body feared her because of what she was, what she’d been turned into without choice. “Because we believe we have a way to return you to the true moon temple.” She smiled, trying to say what her words couldn’t.

She knew it was pointless from the wooden response of head nods she got from the other side of the room. There was no trust here. She wasn’t sure why she’d thought she would get any. It stung though knowing that Ajax had been trusted so easily in a time of need, but she knew times were different then. Sighing loudly she closed her eyes trying to center on the calm within. She realized that this wasn’t going to be as easy as Ajax hoped. He was already giving her a look that said he thought as much. “Allow me to tell you about myself, that might help move things along.” 

Opening her eyes she saw wide eyes staring at her in turn, better than the downcast ones that refused to meet her own. As if the human tales about vampires were true. “I wasn’t always a vampire.” Her words were met with the expected response, a slight opening of eyes and an intake of breath. “Unlike Ajax here I wasn’t informed of who you were by Hecate, I remembered.” She shifted uncomfortably at the memories in her own mind, of her own death and morality. 

“Do you know how a vampire is born, made?” The question was more rhetorical but the wolves across from her shook their heads. Well the ones she wanted to anyway. It was hard even her to look Jun or Yoon in the eye knowing how many of her kind they had killed, how easily they could kill her. Knowing they would want to as she revealed her secrets. She shifted in the pillow again remembering all the times she’d been scolded in this room. The memories summoned by the detached look in Changkyun’s eyes. 

The werewolves in the room were comfortable with this tension, it was easy for her to see as she went on. Her own experience with such limited by her very limited involvement with the business. She was only here for the vampires to be controlled, and the blood. “A vampire is made by forcing a human to drink a vampire’s blood. Just like some of the human stories tell.” She swallowed thickly the sound of the blood pumping in the room coming to her ears as she thought about the red substance. 

Changkyun felt himself shifting, it was Kihyun pulling him closer as Hoseok buried himself further into his other side. A comfort her knew as his blood ran cold listening to the vampire in the room. He couldn’t feel anything, his emotions numb as he tried to take in everything that was being said as well as the memories of this room. Well he knew it wasn’t ‘this room’ but it was close enough. As if these exact four walls had seen everything of his life before. He knew better, but the memories still poured forth as they played into what they were being told. Aibell’s words ringing true in a way he’d forgotten.

“The origin of vampires isn’t quite as sweet or romantic as that of werewolves.” Aibell knew her voice was cold, harsh. It carried the pain she felt in soul, the torment of carrying both memories. “When I was human I didn’t know who I had been, I was innocent, the vampire who turned me was not.” Ajax’s hand landed on her shoulder bringing her comfort as she went on, this story wasn’t new to him. “I was forced to drink his blood and through it I remembered everything. How I’d died, watching you die.” She couldn’t help looking at the man she’d been with, before looking back to her mother.

“I, all of us were hunted down by the humans in our past. Slaughtered like monsters just for existing.” She knew her smile had too much fang from the way the wolves flinched as she continued. “It was only fitting that one of those hunters become a true monster.” Here she knew that she had no first hand experience, but she knew Changkyun did. That what she had to say he wasn’t going to like, none of them were. But it had to be said, all of it had to be said for their plans to meet fruition. 

Minhyuk shifted uneasily, his hand on Hyunwoo’s squeezing it in a way that he knew was painful but he couldn’t feel sorry for. Memories playing back in his mind when Aibell looked at him, as if looking through him. As if seeing a history he couldn’t quite remember that now came back with a clarity that took his breath away. Their deaths, brutal and inhumane at the end of a silver blade. His thoughts back then circling around the moon even as the wife he’d been given by her was dying next to him. Bleeding out all over the bed, her blood mixing with his own. 

He could see the memory in her eyes as she continued. An account he knew she didn’t have first hand, as he’d been with her when she bled out. Days before the moon had died, days before his brothers had died. Each of them another snuffed out piece of the goddess’ soul that even allowed for her to die at all. As if they had lived so might she. It hadn’t been meant to be as humans had, and will always fear what they didn’t understand. 

“One of the hunters who killed you, killed the goddess had been splashed by her blood. Had tasted it. And for it was divine he could not get enough. Legends among vampires tell how he desecrated the body of the moon goddess, draining her of every last drop of blood after he death.” Aibell’s voice was cold, making the room cold with it and causing Changkyun to shiver. Memories floating around them as they each pieced together where they fit in this tale of events. “That’s how vampires were born.”

Hyunwoo swallowed thickly around the thoughts that came to mind. Of why it might be that this version was more true than any of the human tales he’d heard about vampires. And why maybe the to the sun they were such cursed creatures. Even werewolves were not loved by the sun, and he knew now it was for stealing the moon, her sister away. The curse that would be laid upon a creature vile enough to defile the dead moon’s body would be more severe. 

Aibell looked at each face across from her, the disbelief and slow understanding coming together was one on their faces. They’d already learned about werewolves, Ajax had told her so she knew they would come to see the truth. But the truth, it would hurt and it wasn’t over. “The reason vampires drink blood,” She swallowed thickly not looking at Changkyun as she spoke. “Is because we crave what our ancestor had. The little bit of the goddess’ blood that is passed among us, it changes us. We crave it.” 

“We don’t need to drink blood to live like the humans say. We want it, we use it to fill the never ending hunger we have raging inside us.” Aibell squeezed Ajax’s hand on her shoulder her control solid steel knowing if she caved into her wants the vampires under her would too. Thus was the magic she’d used on them, the blood spell she’d worked so hard to create. A spell only she could work being born of the goddess and reborn in her blood. 

“As vampires we gain power from the blood we consume, not strength but power to quell the thirst.” She didn’t look at the werewolves across from her, but she could feel their unease. Taste it on her tongue like a pulse point against her lips. “The reason that those vampires did that to you all those years ago was because they tasted what all vampires crave. Your blood. It’s what changed us to these immortal bodies, it’s what drives us into a frenzy. A hunger that wouldn’t be sated even if we drained you.”

“A curse.” Aibell whispered the last taking a deep breath she didn’t need, her body needed nothing just like that of a goddess. It would heal quickly and be alive forever just simply for having that divine blood within her, but it called for more. It would always call for more as long as she lived. “We are cursed with hunger for the crime our ancestor committed and scorned by the sun for that very same crime. I have spelled the vampires here to be keyed to my thirst.” She swallowed, she hadn’t partook in so long and smelling the moon as she was it was getting harder to keep it at bay.

Ajax cleared his throat reminding Aibell that she had a line she couldn’t cross. He noticed her look down at her cushion seeing how it had shifted towards the wolves and she shifted back. He smiled at her glumly, he would take it from here. She had done what he needed her to do. Changkyun looked close to breaking already and they hadn’t even gotten to their plan. “There is a way to reverse this, to break the vampire curse.” His voice was thicker than he had intended as he spoke but he felt the moment Changkyun’s eyes snapped to his. Wide and wild.

“A cure?” Changkyun barely recognized his own voice, it was deep, low and full of emotion. He hadn’t expected to remember his death like that. Each painful wound aching on his body while his mate’s tried to comfort him down their bonded link it was faint. It was distant, just like they had been when he died, their feelings not quite connected with his own until it was too late. Until the goddess was only aware enough to feel their lives being snuffed out. Their loss excruciating in her final days and her regrets deep. 

“Not quite.” Ajax noticed the other wolves shifting, their bodies pulling closer to their mate. He could sense their desire to comfort him, to soothe the feelings the past brought with it. He could feel his own death echoing in the back of his mind, watching the man he’d married die. It had hurt then, for she had loved her husband, but he had only thought of the moon in those final moments. Calling out for a woman who had never wanted him, it stung now watching him still choose the moon. But Ajax reminded himself he was no longer that weak woman he’d been then either. He no longer loved someone who didn’t love him.

Ajax sighed shaking away the past, thinking only of the present. “We have found a way to restore you, and your mates, to the moon temple. The true moon temple.” He let his eyes drift upward hoping the other wolves would catch the hint. “It is the one that perpetuates our curse. The one with which the sun goddess still punishes us for taking you and vampires for what their ancestor had done. We want to return you to the moon.” He knew it sounded ridiculous but they knew just as he did magic was real and did many things. 

“To the moon?” Jooheon wanted to laugh, to choke on his tears of madness. But he didn’t instead scanning the two faces before them, they were quite serious. And from the others around him he could tell they were weighing their options. It wasn’t as if they could leave the north to begin with. One glance at Jun and Yoon earlier told of how fucked they truly were if they were to try it. In this moment he missed Gunhee, even if the other would have no better solutions. Leaning against Changkyun he wondered what they’d gotten into. 

He knew his mate had no more answers than the others did, his body tense. There was a lot of information to take in. But there was something else, something deeper going on. A thought he could feel just below the surface but couldn't access with their bond the way it felt. The way it had felt when they died, barely formed but there. An echo of what it had become now, he missed it and the comfort it gave him. 

“To the moon.” Aibell answered getting to her feet. She’d said all she needed to say the rest was up to Changkyun to decide, to pursue or not to pursue. There weren’t many options, which was something Ajax and herself had worked him towards. Things had gone much smoother than they’d expected with Changkyun already having found his mates, and needing to flee to them for safety. A part of their plan they hadn’t quite worked out before. Things were in their favor and she hoped for a favourable answer. But it wasn’t required to do what was needed, there was always force. 

“We’ll let you think about it. I’ll have Mal Rae and Mal Rak show you to your rooms. Tomorrow night there will be a feast you’re welcome to join us in celebrating your arrival.” Aibell smiled, more fang than was required showing as she thought about the wolf they’d strung up just for this occasion, a willing sacrifice for her own children who numbered many among the vampires in the fold. “Please think about our offer carefully and we’ll go over the details when you’ve made a decision.”

Changkyun swallowed and nodded. But he was no longer in the moment. A thought from before niggling at the back of his mind, taking him away with a realization that power was still flowing through him. A power he was slowly realizing he could take advantage of. An understanding that what Aibell and Ajax were asking was a dark magic he wanted nothing to do with, regardless of how they worded it. A thought that ate at him as he followed his mates blindly behind the hounds of his not quite enemy. As he knew the true enemy was himself, had always been himself. The moon, who created more than she intended to just by existing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This mythos is literally the whole reason this sequel exists.


	11. Eleventh Bite

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well we're coming to an end. It's been a bit of a wild, emotional ride for your author. I mean when I started The X Clan way back when I hadn't foreseen it lasting 5 chapters or more. It blew up to 55 and now we're coming to a close on the sequel. I'm overwhelmed by your continued support and I'm really thankful for each reader. Even if you never comment I see the views going up and it fills my heart. <3 I hope to see you in the final chapter.

“I don’t like it.” Were Jun’s first words once she felt they were alone enough for her to speak her mind. Her mate beside her was nodding his agreement even as he inspected the room with a discerning eye. It was large enough to accommodate all of them comfortably and it looked like it was made to do so. But she wasn’t talking about it, and the knowing looks from the other wolves told her they understood. Yet they all made a grand show of pretending that’s what she meant as they all began inspecting the room. As if to make it more to her tastes. 

Trust could only go so far and in her own opinion they’d already trusted Ajax and his ‘sister’ Aibell much more than she felt comfortable with. Her skin was still crawling from being surrounded by that many vampires, still being surrounded by them, but she wasn’t concerned about herself though. She was concerned about Changkyun who had drawn into himself the moment they left that little room a little over five minutes ago. Though she couldn’t be sure of the exact reason he’d become withdrawn, she and the others knew there were plenty of reasons for the young wolf to pick from. 

Once Yoon and Minhyuk gave her the signal she allowed herself to relax a little more, letting go of the huffy offended air she’d been holding onto. Kihyun beside her also relaxed a little more having played into the part with her. It reminded her why she was fond of him as well. Smiling she ushered away the hounds who had been sent with them. The show ending once the door closed behind them and the locks clicked. Though she sniffed the air to make sure they hadn’t taken up post beside it, an unnecessary move really. With this many vampires they were well and truly trapped where they were. Mal Rae and Mal Rak were gone.

Still she double checked the locks before gathering the younger wolves into a circle with the bedding that was provided, copious amounts of blankets and pillows, instead of actual beds. She supposed as this was a pack they also preferred to be together when possible. A feeling she never thought she’d appreciate, but she did now. A fondness welling up within her as she looked around the circle, but also a pang for the one face that was missing. It hit her now more than ever how much of a pack this small group of wolves had become for her, for her mate beside her. 

Jun did her best to hide her soft smile, it wasn’t the time or the place for it. So instead she buried it in her heart in much the same way she had her fondness for the youth division while in their previous pack. Beside her Yoon felt comfortable enough to lean against her side, making her feel whole in a way she hadn’t in a long time. Thoughts of Judas sprung to mind and were gone just as quickly as she forced herself into serious mode. Regardless of new pack feelings they were still in possible enemy territory or at best not quite ally territory.

“What do you think of what Aibell said?” Her voice was solid when she spoke up a few minutes after everyone had adjusted to comfortable. She wasn’t the only one with a mate pressed into her side. Jooheon was practically using Changkyun to stay upright while Hyungwon held onto the smaller male’s waist. The others were as close as they could be as well, it almost drew another smile from her as Changkyun shifted once more to accommodate his mates and the large pillow in his lap. 

“I think she’s telling the truth.” Hyunwoo’s voice was a rumble into the silence that followed that question, one Changkyun felt both in the bond and his body. He couldn’t help looking at the older wolf who smiled at him softly, sheepishly as if the feeling were on purpose. Changkyun didn’t mind if it was as it took his mind off the memories this place exuded and the vampires who were defiling it further. “I don’t remember everything,” The words were uncertain but firm. “But I do remember her.” 

Changkyun watched Jun nod, but her face showed the same disbelief she’d been struggling with since she’d heard about the reincarnation. Though she looked infinitely more believing when they spoke about it than when Ajax or Aibell did. Her bias was clear but he didn’t think that was a bad thing, not really. He was just as skeptical as she was in some regards. The memories though were there, unbidden and real in his mind. Not just his own either, but his mates flooding into him whenever he thought about the past. Filling in the gaps not only in what he knew but in what they’d felt. 

He could feel it now pulsing through him, playing along the memories only he had. Memories he held back from them knowing they were too powerful and might cause harm. They were memories of magic, power, and being the moon. Yet they all conversed on a central idea, the same idea that had come to him while Aibell was speaking. It would take him time to figure it out, to put all the pieces together with his now human, well werewolf understanding of the world and science. Even werewolves only had limited magic, mostly of the blood variety like vampires. A witch would understand his own thoughts better he was sure. 

“I remember her too.” Kihyun added softly, glancing at Changkyun from the corner of his eye and his spot beside Hyungwon. He could feel their mate wasn’t entirely invested in the conversation, while still actively paying attention. A state the goddess had entered frequently while listening to platitudes and the humans in general. He found it amusing even though the goddess and Changkyun looked nothing alike the face was the same. “I don’t understand why she kept her name but she was the youngest.” He tried not to blush thinking about how he’d actually fathered her. 

“She did say she remembered.” Minhyuk added and felt a shiver up his spine thinking of way she’d looked at him. As if looking through him, at someone else, at someone he used to be. The feeling was echoed in Hyunwoo who had come to realize Ajax had looked at him the same way a few times. He shook the feeling away though focusing on the discussion at hand. “But I don’t think they’re being entirely honest. There’s something they aren’t telling us, or a lot of things really.” He shivered, leaning over just enough to run a hand over Changkyun’s knee making himself feel better with the touch. 

“I agree.” Hoseok nodded as he spoke looking around the faces of what had started as a circle and quickly turned into a half and half cuddle session. With all of the youth division members huddled around their mate and Yoon leaning into Joon. The closest any of them had seen to the two being cuddly since they’d met them. It spoke volumes on how comfortable they were now and it made his heart full. There was only a dull ache at the thought of who was missing, but he noted it as he thought about who could be missing if Ajax was trying to trick them. 

“The question is what are they lying about? Or what are they withholding?” Hyungwon sighed thinking about the endless amount of possibilities was exhausting. Not thinking about them was foolish though and he, like his brothers were not foolish in deals. They didn’t get to where they were in the previous pack by acting without thinking. “And what are we going to do about it? Or the feast?” He added when no answered. He almost felt bad for how heavy he’d made the air between them all with his inquiries, but he knew they needed to be voiced. 

“We’re not going to the feast.” Changkyun shook his head at the thought of what would transpire at such an event. Vampires and werewolves, feasting. He knew what it really meant. That somewhere a werewolf, a vampire, or possibly a human was strung waiting to be sacrificed. The same ritual he’d walked in on all those years ago was about to be repeated, and it wasn’t for their arrival either. He’d figured it out the cycle, long after he’d run from Ajax. Realizing that the rituals revolved around the moon, around the goddess he once was. Even now this one coincided with the full moon. 

No one questioned him on why. Though he knew that his mates could feel his reasoning through their bond, the images at least he tried to hide from them. They didn’t need that horror along with the knowledge. Still at the thought of the full moon he realized what they did need to do. What he had to do to be the moon, not to return to who he was. But to become a new moon, a new power over the children the goddess hadn’t put much thought into. For his mates who she also hadn’t been able to love enough until her last moments. He wouldn’t make the same mistakes. 

Still he only shared the basics as they sat in the too large room and acted like the pack they had become. The bond between them strengthening his resolve to go against what Ajax planned. His memories, the goddess’ memories telling him the cost of what Ajax wanted would be too high. A thought he’d realized along with what he needed to do, what had to be done really to save everyone. Thoughts he shielded from his mates knowing they were too divine for them to handle, yet anyway. 

As he sat among them discussing what they could do he felt as he came into all his knowledge again. And his knowledge of magic, rediscovered as it was, told him that returning to the moon wasn’t a simple matter of melding back with his mates. Not anymore. Deep down, all the way to his soul he knew that the price to return was the eradication of all the creatures he’d birthed. The wolves, the witches, the vampires, and the various other life he’d given as the moon. All of it would have to end for him to reascend to his rightful temple and place among the gods.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter will end this. I'll probably never write something quite as draining as this was ever again. And I won't edit this for awhile...because it's all gonna need it. I don't think I ever just stopped to edit this one...Oops


	12. Twelfth Bite

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the end. We got here sooner than I expected and I feel a bit sad inside but this is how things go. I'm truly grateful to all of you. I love you all <3

The feast was in full swing when they snuck out, there was music, dancing, and feasting. The feasting was what Changkyun didn’t want to think about as they made their way to the roof of the replica temple. Aibell and Ajax hadn’t been offended when they’d declined and hadn’t had them followed. Or if they were it was by someone further away than any of them could smell or see. Changkyun took that in stride as they settled on the tiles, they were chilly but bathed in the full moon’s light. To either side was Jun and Yoon, both with their backs turned like he’d asked them to be. 

He knew they wouldn’t want to see this. That really once they figured out what he was doing they likely wouldn’t want to even be there. But they’d stay rooted to spot, their loyalty to him keeping them there protecting him and his mates. He almost felt guilty for it. Yet he knew this was the only way to do what needed to be done. Though they had all agreed to follow his directions without question, Jun, Yoon, and his mates. The fist had been to tell Judas to make his way to the temple. He knew the other was closer than he’d told Jun he was. He could feel him, he could feel more than he wanted to honestly.

From the hunger of the vampires to every werewolf within fifty miles, he could feel them. The divinity inside himself allowing him to have the knowledge now that he’d reawoken it. The same divinity he was going to awaken in his mates. Though he knew they weren’t expecting it, wanting it, or quite ready for it. That was the only way he, they could save their children. Even if in this lifetime they weren’t quite their flesh and blood he knew, just as he felt, that his mates also felt the paternity of their own race. 

It was unnerving. But it was a feeling that Changkyun himself was getting used to, even with the vampires who he admittedly found it much harder to forgive. But feeling their thirst, their desire to be sated, even just a touch of it was enough to make him understand. He didn’t want to of course but he’d just spent all night contemplating it long after the others had gone to bed. The feeling of those around him so strong he’d been unable to sleep even buried in the arms and bodies of his mates. Yet when they rose he felt rested, as if they’d somehow been able to sleep for him. 

Afterwards he’d set his plan into motion, with very little fanfare as his mates and Yoon were lost on what to do. Jun wasn’t faring much better, but she was better at pretending. He admired her for it as he told Ajax that they wouldn’t be attending the feast. The older wolf hadn’t seemed surprised, only shrugged and implied that the next one wouldn’t, couldn’t be missed. Changkyun had said all the right things, just like he’d always known how to do with Ajax and been sent on his way. They were given free roam of the temple, which meant they were constantly being watched and would be until the feast. 

It hadn’t made any of them feel any less uneasy. But Changkyun had kept them holed up in the room they’d been given all day regardless. His word not quite law, but respected for his knowledge of Ajax and for the idea he had a plan. Something none of the others had. He had them wait to act on it until the moon was almost directly over the temple, it was important but he couldn’t tell them why. He was grateful they agreed to his terms. Agreed to follow his lead as he set things into motion.

Now they were here. On the roof, the moon bathing them in it’s light, beckoning to their wolf nature. Changkyun smiled at that thought as he stared at each of his mates, he wanted them and he would have them. “Strip.” He saw the way his mate’s backs straightened forcefully, the power in that one word enough to get the whole room below to do as he wanted. It was the only way he knew they’d do it, exposed as they were. He could feel Jun and Yoon stiffen as well more in discomfort. They would follow his orders though, they’d agreed to it and he’d warned them that they might not like them. 

Hyunwoo was first to follow the order followed by Hoseok then Kihyun. Their bodies slowly being displayed before him had Changkyun filling with need, but he waited until the rest of them were stripped before he moved. He watched their faces as he removed his own clothes, their protective instincts were wildly raging at the idea of him being seen. He couldn’t help but think it was cute as he looked at each of them feeling their emotions course through him. Unfiltered and pure, the bond between them almost visible to his eyes. The same way it had been when it had been formed.

The next step had him hesitating if only for a moment. It wasn’t like it was something new to the goddess, who’d laid out with Hecate many a time under the full moon basking in her own powers. Still he wasn’t the goddess and modesty was something he’d been taught. It was hard to think about modesty though with his mates standing naked before him, lust fogging all of their minds at even a glance at each other. It had been too long, and Changkyun felt his need building up as he traced the bond back to Hyunwoo. Then to Minhyuk. Then it was Hyungwon and Hoseok. Then Jooheon and Kihyun. 

Starting was awkward, more awkward than calling forth the power to do so. The chant a self made one that didn’t need to be said aloud but needed to be felt, along the bond, in his soul, and resonate in the moon above. He could feel it working, could see it working as the moonlight flickered and then became stronger. He called Hyunwoo first telling him to lie down on his back, he did was he was told. It hurt in a way, to know that this was how the goddess treated her mates, how he had to treat them now. Using power to get what he needed. With their consent of course. 

Hyunwoo was length and girth when he took him inside himself, his eyes glued to the moon as the others watched. The wolf beneath him didn’t move until the sixth thrust down, forcing Changkyun to do the work. A symbol of the work the goddess should have done. Then it was different. As if awoken from a dream Hyunwoo began to move on his own, thrusting, caressing, kissing, but saying nothing. Changkyun had told them all that words weren’t needed. The taller male had taken it to heart his feelings slipping down the bond like the sweat slipped down Changkyun’s back.

Drawing the power out was exhausting but exhilarating all at once as Changkyun enjoyed the feeling of being filled, not only with Hyunwoo’s cum but his essence, his soul. He could feel the bond between them strengthen to where it should have been all along. The goddess’ wrongs righting with his actions. It wasn’t enough but when Hyunwoo returned to the line of his mates, a smile on his face and the power to do as he wished Changkyun knew it soon would be. He called to Hoseok next repeating the process.

By the time he’d gone down the line to Kihyun, his cock overstimulated but denied release by the ritual he was performing he was crying. And he could feel the knee jerk reaction in his mates to stop it, but their inability to do so as the ritual held them in its power just as much as it did him and the moon. He knew it had been well over an hour since they’d started, the party below having died down some in the noise level and the moon should have moved forward. Instead like himself and his mates it stuck in place. Looking larger than ever as it shined down the ritual its light blinding. 

Coming undone with Kihyun had Changkyun crying out, still unsated. He stared at the moon feeling its power, his power, their power coursing through them. The bond he could see between them was seen through all of their eyes now. A thin white line that connected their hearts. Six stemming from his own and in their eyes, one shooting out from each of them to connect on him. It was one of the most beautiful things he’d ever seen. Equally as beautiful as the sight of all six of his mates, naked and standing at attention covered in sweat from pleasing themselves and him. 

They weren’t done yet. He beckoned them to him, all six taking Hyunwoo first into his mouth letting the others decide their own actions. Moving with them as they pushed and pulled his body where they wanted it. His body was theirs and theirs were his. The way the bond was supposed to be in this regard. It was magic as they moved, one body under the moon. Pulling it closer, drawing from it more stamina to keep going to keep their bodies moving, pulsating against each other like the power that rippled just below surface. 

Changkyun knew the instant they had an audience, so did his mates. His power, the power of the moon was now theirs. For the first time since they’d been bonded they truly shared everything and it felt amazing as they did what needed to be done as one. A command, a single word stopped the nearly ten vampires from looking at them and sent five werewolves running. It was perfection as he rode out the ecstasy of their cocks and their souls filling him. He felt bad for Jun and Yoon who still stood guard, ready for battle but unneeded now. They were still stuck.

When the ritual ended, Changkyun far beyond spent as he lay on the roof cover in the cum of his mates he stared up the moon full. The bond was no longer visible but it was just as strong as it had been in the ritual, his mates were looking at him with horrified wide eyes. Aware of what had transpired and what it had done. Words weren’t needed between them for an explanation but he knew he owed them that much anyway. And they’d get it, as would Jun and Yoon who were politely waiting for them to put clothes back on.

Changkyun smiled sheepishly at them while Jun only rolled her eyes at him. He had the decency at least to throw a shirt on. “All you had to do was warn us you were having sex. It’s not like we didn’t hear you back at the dorm you know.” Jun quipped at him once he was covered, he smiled at her and she grinned back at him showing fang. Yoon was shaking his head at the other side his eyes glued to the moon. 

“Are you sure this will work?” Yoon didn’t sound certain and Changkyun could understand, he couldn’t see what they could. But he believed, that was much certain when he looked back at him, trust written on his face. A trust that Changkyun had gotten well before he’d earned it. “You said that their way was wrong are you sure this one was right?” He was worried and he had right to be but Changkyun knew, they all knew it had worked when the vampires he’d told to leave had after a struggle of five minutes. 

“You saw yourself.” Changkyun smiled everything was how it should have been, he had his power back. His mates now shared his power of the moon and for the first time in too long gods walked among men. He could feel his mates smiling as they spotted Judas at the treeline, feeling him long before he’d been quite there. Things were going to change now that Changkyun was in control and there was no one that could stop it. No one that could stop them, not Ajax, not Aibell, and no creature of the night. Smiling to himself Changkyun set out to do what he’d been reborn for. To unite his children in the same way he’d made amends and reunited with his mates.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for joining me on this wild ride from a cute love story to the story of power. I'm glad we could take this journey together. Maybe I'll see you next time.

**Author's Note:**

> Thoughts? Is it a lot different from what you were expecting? I'm actually really, really nervous because I know if you read the previous work you'll have expectations.


End file.
